What it takes
by TheBigWaloo
Summary: This is a story about growing up. About trust, conquering fears and finding oneself. But mostly, it's about two teams and their journey to discover what it takes to be a hunter. Dedicated to Monty Oum as of 2/3/15
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes: Hello, I am thebigwaloo and this is my first ever fanfiction. Please feel free to review if you wish, I know I'm not perfect, so any critiques are welcome. Also keep in mind this is a story about me and my friends' OC's, so rwby canon characters will appear as only cameos. That's all I have to say. Enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 1: Introductions

"Hello and welcome to Beacon."

The boy looked up from the stunning view he had been staring at for ten minutes. He turned toward the sound of the voice and was met with the hologram of a blond middle-aged woman. Her hair was tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. She had bright green eyes and thin rectangular glasses.

"Who's that?" a blonde student inquired.

Her question was answered immediately by the hologram, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh," the blonde spoke, happy her question was resolved.

Glynda was dressed in a white long-sleeved suit with sleeves that are puffy near the wrists. Her lower body had a black business skirt with buttons running in a vertical line up the front of it along with black stockings.

"You are among a privileged few who received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy."

As she spoke her purple tattered cape swayed back and forth with her body. She stood up straight with her hands clasped behind her back in a very formal manner.

Needless to say she was definitely better dressed than the boy watching her. He was tall and lanky, with dark brown eyes, short messy black hair and a small, short black beard. He had white skin and wore a green t-shirt with a black bomber jacket over it as well as blue cargo pants, black sneakers and black fingerless gloves. He also wore a necklace that was in the shape of half a yin yang symbol. His name was Basil Kriegel and he was about to become a student of Beacon Academy.

Maybe this place is more formal and uptight than I thought, pondered Basil, as he tapped his hands on his legs. I don't even know if I'll be able to make friends here, thought Basil sadly, maybe I shouldn't have even applied.

"Oh wow!"

Basil was snapped out of his train of thought when a girl in a red cape suddenly noticed the view. After she cried out, everyone started looking at the amazing view from the airship that they were traveling in. Despite having seen it already, Basil decided to take another look, as it was spectacular. As he looked out the window he saw the buildings slowly pass by, the morning light reflecting off the building windows made the city of Vale seem like a sea of stars even in the early hours of the day. He could nearly pick out his own home as well as Signal Academy, the school for hunters he was trained at. Basil smiled as he remembered all the fond memories he had with his friends at Signal. All the tests and training he had to go through was certainly difficult for him.

All of it will be worth it, thought Basil, Beacon Academy is a great school for huntsman and huntresses.

Basil looked back out at the view as he continued to hold his internal conversation.

The teachers here will help me improve my combat abilities so that I may protect those in need, reasoned Basil, I just hope I won't fail completely and utterly during the first week.

Once again, he looked down at Vale and the magnificent view from the airship they were taking to Beacon. However, not everyone was enjoying the view as much as Basil did. This was made clear when he saw a blonde boy walk towards the bathroom holding his stomach.

This was then followed by the red caped girl screaming, "Aw Yang gross you have puke on your shoe!"

Concerned with whether or not the blonde boy was okay, Basil walked quickly towards the bathroom and opened it. Inside was a white tiled floor with white walls, white sinks, and grey stalls. The bathroom didn't smell dirty oddly enough, as if someone had just came in and cleaned it. If that was the case, Basil felt bad for whoever cleaned it because now all that could be heard was a vile retching sound from one of the stalls. Feeling kind of awkward about conversing with a person who was in the middle of vomiting, Basil knocked on the door.

"Hey, you alright in there?" Basil asked.

The vomiting continued for a little bit as the blonde boy tried to regain his composure. Once he was finished the boy answered.

"Yea, I'm fine just a little bit of motion sickness is all," he said in a strained voice

"Motion sickness is a much more common problem than people think." replied Basil

"That's what I always tell people!" exclaimed the boy.

Basil heard the toilet flush and the boy came out of the stall. He was dressed in a black hoodie with reddish-orange sleeves as well as blue pants with a white patch on the left knee and black shoes. On top of that, he wore a white chest plate and shoulder armor. He had two belts crisscrossing his waist, both of which were different shades of brown and one had a small pouch on it. He also had brown wrist-length gloves with exposed fingertips and a small metal plate on the back.

"Hey I'm Jaune," stated the boy.

"My name's Basil."

"Good to meet you Basil."

"You too Jaune," responded Basil, smiling. Maybe making friends wasn't going to be as difficult as he originally thought.

* * *

"No you won't!"

The girl was arguing with a boy who stood at 5'11", while she was only 5'3". Despite the height difference the boy had backed up, slightly intimidated by the girl. She had pinkish, pale skin, green eyes and silver hair. Her hair was of medium length and parted on her right side with her right side tucked behind her ear, while her bangs on her left side dangled near her eyes in an unorganized way. The rest of her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore blue, moon shaped earrings. She had on a plain sky blue shirt, blue jeans and silver combat boots. She also wore a white sweater over her shirt and had a light blue scarf draped over each shoulder. The boy she was talking to was her brother.

"Oh come on Sylvia, I can't live without some form of relaxation," replied the boy. He was tall, with shaggy, short blonde hair. He was pretty well built for his age, but Sylvia rarely noticed it. He had golden brown skin from being in the sun often. He had on a white tank top underneath a red zip up hoodie with blue jeans, yellow fingerless gloves and brown sneakers.

"Re, you and I both know that you get plenty of relaxation on a daily basis. You barely studied at all last year and nearly failed out of your classes!"

Re grinned. Sylvia was obviously exaggerating over his grades. For one thing he got straight B's for his final grades last year which was not even close to, "nearly failing out of class." Secondly, if he had nearly failed out of class he would not be on this airship going to Beacon, one of the most prestigious academies in Vale. As for the studying, that part was true. Re didn't like to study too much, if at all, whereas Sylvia couldn't study enough for an exam.

"Sylvia if I study for as long as you do my head will fall off. I'm honestly surprised that yours is still screwed on your shoulders," Re stated.

At this Sylvia smiled, "I'm more surprised that you consider yours still on your shoulders."

Re chuckled at that, "Look I'll promise to study a little bit more if you learn to relax more often."

Sylvia thought about it and then replied, "Make it a lot and you've got a deal."

Re rolled his eyes amusedly, "Fine, if that will ease your conscience, sis."

Sylvia smiled again, "It would thanks." She then turned to the window. Her brother may be a pain in the butt sometimes, but she still cared for him. She smiled to herself, besides now I can force him to study more, Sylvia thought, he has no idea what he's getting into.

The intercom buzzed suddenly and a man's voice came on.

"This is your pilot speaking, we are about to descend to Beacon Academy. Please gather your things and be ready to leave the airship. Again, we are about to descend to Beacon Academy. Please gather your things and be ready to leave the airship."

Re grinned widely, "Come on Sylvia," said Re, "Let's show Beacon what the Challis family is capable of."

* * *

Basil heard the pilot on the intercom and knocked on the bathroom door that Jaune had reentered upon descent of the airship.

"Hey Jaune!" yelled Basil, "The airship is about to land I'm going to go gather my stuff. I'll see you later."

Jaune let out an audible grunt in understanding and Basil headed out of the bathroom and towards the exit. He let out a sigh of nervousness as the ship descended toward Basil's future. The airship landed on the runway and the doors opened.

Sunlight hit Basil's face as he walked off the airship with everyone else. He quickly shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness until they had adjusted. As he removed his hand from his eyes, he immediately took in a sight that would stick out in his mind for a long time. He was standing on the exit ramp of the airship looking out at a pathway made of hexagon stone pieces which lead to a circular courtyard with benches around it and the Beacon logo, two crossed single bladed axes surrounded by a laurel wreath, was located in the center of the courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by several green trees and had lampposts lined up on either side of the path, which lead up to a site that took his breath away. In front of him was what looked like a castle surrounded by two rings of stone archways, an inner one and an outer one. In between the two rings and within the inner ring were pools of water where lily pads were growing. Within those rings was Beacon Academy. It was a collection of buildings, each of which was topped by multiple turrets. There was also a tower with several lights emanating from it, resembling a beacon.

Basil smirked at this. That must be where they got the name, thought Basil.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this!"

Basil turned his head toward the voice and saw the two girls from the ship. One of them was slightly taller than the other with long, messy, bright gold hair, with a few locks sticking out and a small cowlick on top of her head. The other had medium length black hair with red streaks and a red cloak.

As Basil walked by them, he began to notice more of the two girls. The blonde girl wore a tan vest over a yellow shirt. She wore black shorts and a skirt in the back with knee-high boots. She was pale in color and had lilac eyes. Basil certainly wouldn't mind getting to know her better. Of course, He knew he would never work up the nerve to do that. Not that he was scared, he was just always unsure of himself. Plus a girl like that probably had several guys wrapped around her finger already.

The girl with the red cloak also had on a black blouse and a skirt with red trim. She had on black leggings and black combat boots with red trim. She had a pale white comparison and silver eyes, which was an odd eye color for anybody.

As he walked away from the two, he couldn't help but notice that something was a bit different about the girl in red. I mean, the fact that she had silver eyes was interesting, and how she was currently fangirling over people's weapons was certainly cute, but there was something else that was odd. Then he realized what it was, the girl in red looked very young to be attending this school.

I wonder why that is, pondered Basil, maybe she is just visiting and the other girl is her friend? That didn't make sense; guests weren't usually allowed on the airship to Beacon. Maybe she was moved up in a year previously, Basil continued, or maybe-

_WHUMP!_

He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice the girl in front of him had stopped and ran right into her. The girl had almost fallen over due to the impact and was getting her bearings as Basil realized what happened.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Basil said quickly, "I wasn't watching where I was going and didn't notice you had stopped."

The girl looked up. Well, _looked_ was probably the worst way to describe it. She more turned toward Basil. She stood at an average height for a girl with medium length, shaggy, tomboyish brown hair and light brown skin. She wore a brown tunic underneath a frayed, brown cloak that only seemed to cover her shoulders and some of her back. She had baggy, black pants and tan sneakers with a white horizontal stripe. She also had a small, tan scarf wrapped around her neck, not covering her mouth. But her most prominent possession was the black cloth that wrapped around her head, covering her eyes like a blindfold. Her hair seemed to slightly cover the blindfold as well, seeming to emphasize the conclusion that Basil had come to. This girl was blind.

"That's okay," she replied, her voice was quiet and soothing, almost as if nothing had happened.

Basil stood there awkwardly and asked, "So what's-"

_BOOM!_

Basil and the girl both jumped at the sudden noise. Basil turned toward and saw black smoke and what looked like fire and lightning mixed within.

"What kind of explosion was that?" the girl asked.

"Uh…" Basil was very confused by the question; what did she mean by what kind of explosion?

The girl seemed to read his mind and said, "I felt a lot of energy from it, was it dust?"

Basil was even further confused by this. How did she know the explosion was full of energy? At least he was able to answer her other question.

"Yea, I saw some lightning coming out of it so it must have been."

The girl nodded as though she knew it all along, she was certainly intriguing to say the least.

"So what were you going to say?" prompted the girl.

Roused from his thoughts Basil answered, "Well, before my eardrums exploded, I was gonna ask what your name was?"

The girl chuckled slightly at that, "I'm Namra," she replied.

Basil smiled, "My name is Basil. It's nice to meet you Namra."

She smiled as well, "Nice to meet you too."

Basil grinned widely. He had a feeling Namra would be his first friend in this new environment. He looked toward Beacon. In that academy lay his future, new trials and struggles. But it also would hold new memories, friends and experiences. Basil felt a mixture of both nervousness and excitement at the prospect, and he hoped Namra would be with him through that.

"We should get going to the school."

Basil snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. Quickly he realized his mistake but before he could correct it, Namra started walking toward the academy. Basil wasn't sure if she somehow knew he nodded or if she wasn't waiting for an answer. Basil assumed the former considering the fact that she knew so much about the explosion. Basil quickly followed her to the entrance ready for whatever lay ahead.

* * *

The boy was walking down the pathway toward Beacon. He had a gruff expression as he surveyed the courtyard, looking at all the other students, trying to size them up. The boy's name was Porphyrios Chroma. He was taller than the average man and had a relatively muscular body. He had long, scraggily, jet black hair with a purple tint and a scraggily, black full beard and mustache. He wore a long blue tunic with white cargo pants and black boots. He also had a red head scarf, dark gray eyes and brown skin. However his most interesting feature of all those was that he was a Faunus with a pangolin tail. Despite his heritage, no one seemed to be bothering him or trying to pick on him at all. This was probably due to his intimidating appearance and permanent scowl he wore on his face. In short he was not one to mess with.

"All of these students look ready," Porphyrios said to himself, "but none of them are worth any of my time or worthy to be my teammate."

He started to wonder if anybody would even be a challenge to him, when suddenly he was pushed to the side by a boy with blue hair. The boy was off in a rush to get to the academy for some reason. Angered by the blue haired boy's rudeness, he quickly regained his footing.

"What a tool bag," Porphyrios observed, "I hope I don't get stuck with him as a teammate, he would slow me down for sure."

Continuing his walk, he began to go over scenarios in his head of what initiation might be like tomorrow. As he approached the entrance to Beacon he looked to his right and saw two girls deep in conversation with each other.

Porphyrios rolled his eyes, "Probably just conversing about the latest movie they saw," he commented cynically, "They'll drop out within a week." And with that he continued his walk into the school.

* * *

The two girls meanwhile continued their conversation with each other as if oblivious to everyone else in the world.

The girl on the left was fairly short, with reddish brown eyes and olive skin. Her hair was wavy and colored honey brown; it was a little longer than shoulder length with bangs on her right side. She also had a pigtail on her right side, tied up with a gold ribbon. She wore a black dress that had a sweetheart neckline with gold swirls edging it and a rounded asymmetrical skirt. The same gold swirls formed a crisscross design on the skirt made of two lines that cross twice and a third one going from one cross point to the other on the left side. The dress also had an icy blue sheer long sleeve shirt that had a gold ring that attached to her middle finger. She also wore an icy blue corset with a gold ruffle at the top as well as black combat boots with gold toes, laces and stitching. Her jewelry consisted of a golden chain made out of swirled links, black studs in her ears and a black cuff in her cartilage.

"All I'm saying, Celestia, is that we should try to be on the same team together," the golden haired girl stated.

"And all I'm saying Aurelia is that I don't think it's gonna work like that," replied Celestia, brushing her pink bangs out of the way.

The girl named Celestia was a good five inches taller than Aurelia. She had fair skin with steel blue eyes. Her dark pink hair was long with her left side tucked behind her ear and the right side dangling next to her face. She was dressed a lot simpler in comparison to the first girl; she wore a white tank top underneath an open black, leather jacket. She had on dark blue skinny jeans and black combat boots. She also wore diamond stud earrings, but other than that her attire was pretty casual. However, being a Faunus, she also had dark pink, small, floppy dog ears on her head. The two girls had been best friends for quite a long time and were having a very important discussion.

"But what if your teammates don't like Faunus?" asked Aurelia, "What if you get picked on? Wouldn't you feel more comfortable if you knew you did all you could to avoid it?"

"Well…" Celestia hesitated, "I don't know, I just think the selection process would prevent that," she said, indecisively.

"Well I would feel more comfortable if I at least try to help and protect you like I used to back at Sanctum," responded Aurelia.

Celestia smiled, she knew that Aurelia was just looking out for her due to her Faunus heritage and her unnatural shyness to strangers. But nevertheless, she knew that Aurelia couldn't protect her forever and that perhaps it was time to be independent.

And yet…

"Alright," Celestia said, in an accepting tone, "we can try to become teammates during initiation, but if we are on different teams then there is nothing we can do about it."

Aurelia put on a frown, as if the concept of being on different teams disgusted her, which quite frankly it did. She had been a part of Celestia's life for quite some time and hated the idea of being separated from her for so long. She was stubborn that way and hoped that good fortune would swing her way for once in her life.

"Fine," Aurelia declared, "but if we are on separate teams and you are getting bullied, I'm coming after them."

Celestia smiled again. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she assured, and they both walked into Beacon, ready to start their first years of training.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Notes: Sorry for the late chapter, I'm trying to upload every week but I don't know if I will be able to do that because of school. Anyways enjoy this chapter!**

What It Takes

Chapter 2: The First Steps

Sylvia and Re entered Beacon Academy and were welcomed to a large room where most of the other students had already assembled in the room and were waiting for the headmaster, professor Ozpin, to make his welcoming speech.

"Wow," spoke Re in awe, "for a combat school this is quite the fancy room."

"Re this is a prestigious combat school, their rooms are going to be big," chided Sylvia, "did you really expect it to be anything less?"

"I was under the impression we were going to a school, not a castle," said Re smirking.

"Well maybe-"

She was cut off when a girl with brown hair pushed past her in order to get a space in the crowd. Normally Sylvia would have only been slightly ticked off at the girl's clumsiness, except the girl didn't even apologize to her.

_Well she is about to get a piece of my mind,_ thought Sylvia as she started going after her. However, Re's put his hand on her shoulder.

"Come on Sylvia," Re said calmingly, "If you get mad at everything that you disapprove of you're gonna end up hurting yourself."

Sylvia shrugged off his hand but stayed where she was.

"Either that or you're gonna put someone in the hospital," joked Re.

Sylvia crossed her arms, still fuming about the utter rudeness that the brown haired girl had shown her. She turned toward the stage in the amphitheater in time to see Ozpin and Glynda appear on the stage. Ozpin was a middle-aged man with tousled gray hair and thin brown eyes. He wore shaded glass spectacles and a dark-green scarf over an unzipped black suit and a black-buttoned vest, with a green undershirt underneath. He also wore black shoes and long, dark-green pants. Sylvia certainly approved of Ozpin's choice of clothes; the headmaster of a prestigious school should always look their best. Ozpin approached the microphone and Glynda stood off to his left as Ozpin cleared his throat.

"I'll…keep this brief," he started, "you have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Silence hit the students as they took in Ozpin's weird speech, each trying to define what he was trying to say. They were snapped out of their thoughts when Glynda approached the mic.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

And with that she walked off the stage.

"He seemed kind of…off," Sylvia turned toward the speaker, a blonde haired girl with lilac eyes. Sylvia then realized that the blonde was right. During that speech Ozpin seemed almost distracted by something.

_Well regardless_, thought Sylvia, _he shouldn't doubt the abilities of his students, especially someone as skilled as me._

"I'm a natural blonde you know."

This came from a blonde boy, who appeared to be flirting with a girl with white hair. Sylvia rolled her eyes.

_Just how desperate can guys get?_ She thought.

Re grinned, knowing what Sylvia was thinking, "At least you know I will never say something like that."

"No, you'd probably say something cheesier than that," Sylvia retorted with a smirk of her own.

Re laughed at this, "Well if you're done making your snide remarks, we should probably get our stuff in the ballroom and get ready for tomorrow."

Sylvia nodded in agreement and they headed off to the ballroom.

* * *

Namra entered the ballroom of Beacon Academy. The area was littered with sleeping bags from all of the first year students and their belongings. The room was dimly lit by numerous candles on the walls next to the windows, each of which had red curtains on either side. There was also a platform next to the door that she had just come through. Namra sensed that it would be very hard to find a place to sleep, but she certainly had to try. She walked over to the girls' side of the room to find a spot to place her stuff. She felt all of the students watching her as she walked to a possible spot to place her sleeping bag. She wasn't surprised at this, wearing a blindfold over her eyes catches everybody's attention. They would either assume she was blind or just an idiot.

_Either way, I'm sure they all doubt my abilities to fight,_ Namra thought to herself, _well I'll just have to show them what I can do in the field_.

This was not at all new to her; she was constantly doubted due to her blindness and was constantly trying to prove herself to everyone. Prove that being blind was not a hindrance to her and that in fact it made her see more than most people. Most of the time it wouldn't work, or people would attribute it too blind luck. They all just couldn't look past her affliction and see her for who she really was. Once again, she began to think about Ozpin's speech to the students. The speech seemed disconcerting and the opposite of motivational or at least that's how most students saw it. Namra thought differently. One line especially stuck out in her mind as a challenge.

"I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy."

_If there is anyone I want to prove my skills to, it's him_, Namra decided to herself.

Her train of thought stopped there though as she carelessly bumped into someone on her way to a spot. Surprised by the sudden contact, Namra dropped her sleeping bag and, while backing up tripped over it. Now Namra lay in a heap on the floor with her sleeping bag at her feet. Slowly getting up, still dazed from the fall, she is greeted by the feeling of a girl's face very close to her own. Although she couldn't actually see this girl's face, Namra had a feeling that she was not happy about being knocked over.

"Watch where you're going," the girl said, suddenly recognition dawned on her face, "Hey, you're the girl who bumped into me earlier at the speech."

Namra was confused until she remembered accidently bumping into a silver haired girl before the headmaster's speech had started.

"It was an accident," Namra replied sheepishly, "sorry."

"Oh now you apologize," said the girl, her arms waving as she chewed Namra out, "You couldn't have done that earlier?"

"As I said it was an accident," stated Namra, "and I was in a hurry so I couldn't."

"You couldn't have taken five seconds to apologize?" questioned the silver haired girl, "you're just rude and clumsy. Then again I shouldn't be surprised considering the fact that you're blind."

Namra was getting angry now. _Time to give her a piece of my mind, _she thought.

"Well I'd certainly rather be blind than ignorant."

"I beg your pardon?" The silver haired girl cried, her voice rising, "is it being ignorant to recognize that someone can't walk on their own two feet let alone fight against the Grimm."

_This girl is ridiculous,_ thought Namra, _how does anyone put up with her?_

"Please," said Namra, her voice still quite level, "I could fight circles around you."

Namra wasn't quite sure about that last part, nor was she ever so confrontational, but this girl was really getting under her skin.

"If you think I'm just gonna stand here and let you talk to me like that-"

She was moving her hands as she spoke which, coincidentally, smacked a Faunus with dark pink hair and dog ears right in the head.

Both Namra and the silver girl turned toward the Faunus and her other companion, a short girl with golden brown hair. The Faunus seemed to be rubbing her head from the blow, while Namra could feel the anger emanating from the golden haired girl.

"I'm sorry," the silver haired girl said meekly, "I didn't see you there."

"Well maybe if you were paying attention instead of mouthing off to someone over an accident than you would have been able to pay attention," the golden haired girl spat in anger.

"She nearly knocked me over twice today," defended the silver girl, "I hardly call that an accident."

"Well God forbid someone accidently does something twice," the girl mocked, "clearly that means they're out to get you."

The silver haired girl's mouth hung open in disbelief that she was being mocked by this new girl.

Seeing her advantage, the new girl pushed on, "Maybe the issue isn't the girl who caused the accident, but instead the girl who is too quick to anger and can't control her hand motions."

The silver haired girl was lost for words. Her mouth opened and shut several times as she tried to formulate words. Finally she closed her mouth and walked away, fuming.

Namra sighed, relieved that she didn't have to deal with social conversations for the rest of the night.

"Thanks," Namra said quietly to the two other girls.

She was picking up her stuff when she sensed the Faunus leaning down and whispering something in the other girl's ear. Namra couldn't quite pick it up but the other girl replied with, "Are you sure?" to which the Faunus nodded.

"We have a space available near us if you want it?" said the brown haired girl.

Namra was slightly apprehensive. She was never a fan of social situations and generally was very reserved about making close ties to people. Then again she felt she owed these two for helping her out.

"Sure, why not?" replied Namra.

"Great!" said the brown haired girl enthusiastically, "I'm Aurelia," she turned to the Faunus girl, "and this is my best friend Celestia." Celestia waved excitedly at Namra.

"Namra," Namra replied, and then followed them over to their area of sleeping bags, hoping to actually get some sleep tonight.

* * *

Re was setting up his sleeping bag on the boy's side of the ballroom. He grinned from ear to ear at the prospect of finally starting his first semester of Beacon. He knew it would be a lot of work, but he also knew that somehow he would get through it all. He knew Sylvia would be more excited to show off her skills to all the other students and professors, but he was different. He was excited about meeting new friends, hanging out with his team and just making sure his semester was as fun as possible. Re grinned wider at the prospect of it all and knew that his time at Beacon would be the most fun he had ever had.

_It will be just like Signal,_ Re thought, _except without old friends and family._

Re's grin vanished as he reflected on past events. It made his heart sad as he remembered everything, his friends who would always stand by him, the teachers who always pushed him to be his best and the girl who always kept him going. He was certainly going to miss all of the things he had left behind at Signal, but he knew he would always have the memories of them to look back on in fondness. Then again there are always the memories of-

Re shook his head snapping out of his reflection.

_No,_ thought Re, _there is no need to think about that. We're at Beacon to start furthering our dreams, which is all that matters._

Re heard a thump as a boy with brown hair, bomber jacket, green shirt and blue cargo pants placed his stuff next to Re. The boy looked up and noticed Re standing there.

"Sorry," the boy said "Is it okay if I sleep here?"

"Of course!" Re said with a grin, "After all I certainly don't own the floor here."

The boy chuckled at the joke and started unpacking his things. As he unrolled his sleeping bag he spoke again.

"I'm Basil by the way."

"I'm Re," said Re with another grin, "It's a pleasure to meet you Basil."

"Likewise," replied Basil.

Basil sat down on his sleeping bag and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Long day?" asked Re.

"Yea," replied Basil, "just glad to finally be here."

"I know what you mean," said Re, "I can't tell you how many times I've imagined myself being here, experiencing what Beacon is all about." He lay down on his sleeping bag as he continued, "It's almost surreal to actually be here finally."

"Very true," agreed Basil, "I wonder what initiation is gonna be like?"

"Well," started Re as he sat up and looked at Basil, "I think it will be somewhere between a written test and staring death straight in the face."

Basil smirked, "Some people would argue that those are the same thing."

Re laughed loudly at that, "That is true, but to be honest I don't know what to expect." Re looked out towards one of the windows, "But whatever it's going to be we will just have to be ready for it."

Basil nodded, "I certainly hope we are all ready for what is to come."

The conversation would have continued, but suddenly an argument broke out a few spaces over.

"I wonder what that's about." Basil said curiously.

"I don't know," replied Re, "Let's go see."

The two walked over and saw two guys arguing over which of them should have the spot they were standing in. The boy on the right was tall and relatively muscular with long, scraggily, jet black hair with a purple tint. He had a scraggily, black full beard and mustache, brown skin and dark gray eyes. For clothing, he wore a long, blue tunic with white cargo pants along with a red head scarf and black boots. But above all his most prominent feature was his tail. It was long and almost looked like it had armor on it. It was very similar to an armadillo tail, but longer and less rounded. Maybe it was a pangolin tail? Re wasn't sure.

The boy on the left was also tall but an inch or two shorter than the Faunus boy. This boy had white skin with dark blue eyes and scars on his chin and cheek, probably from a scrape with a Grimm. His hair was blue and of medium length. It was a bit longer in the back than the front and his bangs fell slightly in front of his face. He wore a dark blue leather jacket over a white undershirt, black jeans, blue combat gloves and blue combat boots. He certainly seemed less intimidating than the Faunus, but either way, Re knew that both were ready to fight.

"I was here first," stated the blue haired guy, a lot calmer than he was a few minutes ago.

"Well we all know that's a lie," growled the Faunus, his tail flicking back and forth, "I got here and set up by the time you came to try and steal my spot."

"Steal your spot? Why on Remnant would I want to steal your spot?"

"I don't know, I can't fathom the mind of an inferior fighter like you."

"We'll just see how inferior I am when I introduce you to the ground!"

They had started yelling again and Re knew it was time to intervene.

"Guys, listen," Re interrupted. Both of them looked up, eyes boring into Re's skull, he would have to choose his next words carefully, "Perhaps you both could share the space if you want it so much." Those were the wrong words.

"If you think I'm going to sleep anywhere near this thief you've got another thing coming!"

"Are you crazy? Maybe I should send you to the ground too!"

Both of them continued to yell at Re for a few more seconds until Basil interrupted.

"Enough!" Basil cried, "there are still some spaces left to take, why don't one of you just go sleep there instead." Basil must have sensed them about to yell again, because he quickly added, "Do you really want people's first impressions of you to be that you can't get over a simple argument?"

The two boys looked at each other, scowling intensely until finally the blue haired one said, "Fine, no point in wasting my energy so quickly anyway," and with that he took his stuff and walked off.

The Faunus glared at the blue haired boy as he walked away, but eventually the Faunus returned to his belongings and set up his sleeping bag. Re and Basil were about to walk away when the Faunus spoke out.

"That was unnecessary," he said bluntly.

Re looked at Basil, but Basil had turned his attention to the Faunus, "You know a simple 'thank you' would be appreciated. After all, we did just prevent you from getting kicked out of Beacon."

The Faunus grunted at this. Basil must have figured that was all he would get out of that, because he backed off.

"So," Re started, "what's your name?"

The Faunus stared at Re. He was certainly intimidating for a mere student starting off at Beacon. Re was starting to think he was about to get chewed out until the Faunus spoke again.

"Porphyrios," he growled, as if he was reluctant to give up that information, which, Re thought, he probably was.

"I'm Basil," Basil interjected and nudged Re to do the same.

"My name's Re," stated Re

Porphyrios grunted again in understanding. He stood up after unrolling his sleeping bag and faced Re and Basil.

"It would be best if you two left," Porphyrios indicated gruffly, "We all need to be prepared for initiation tomorrow."

Fine by me, thought Re, you're beginning to scare me

"Well good night then," said Basil.

Once again Porphyrios grunted in return, and at that Re and Basil left.

"He's right," conceded Basil, "we should probably get some rest for tomorrow's initiation."

Re grinned and nodded in understanding, "Who knows? We could end up staring death in the face."

Basil smirked, "Or we could be taking a simple written test."

"I thought you said those were the same thing?" questioned Re with a smile on his face.

Basil laughed heartily at this, "At this point I think I would prefer to fight the Grimm than take a test."

Re grinned and nodded again and with that they retired for the night, hopefully prepared for whatever awaited them at initiation.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author Notes: Hey all, just wanted to apologize for taking so long to upload this chapter, it took really long to edit what with its length and my mind wanting to change things. I also wanted to say thanks for the positive feedback on my white rose fic Fallen Petals, it was just a spur of the moment thing that I wanted to write. Anyway that's all I wanted to say, enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 3: Comrades and Conflict

"Wake up lazy bum!"

_What in the world_, thought Sylvia as she sat up in her sleeping bag.

It was the morning of initiation and the students were starting to stir as they began to prepare for what lay in front of them. Some were already gone, while others still slept soundly in their sleeping bags. Sylvia was rudely awoken by some orange haired teen with a loud voice. She was addressing some black haired boy who was still asleep on the floor. The girl was annoyingly loud, to the point where Sylvia was starting to get a headache. She tried to go back to sleep, knowing she still had some time to get ready before initiation started.

However, the orange haired girl's shrill cries of, "It's morning!" made it impossible to fall back to sleep. So, resigning to her fate, Sylvia got out of her sleeping bag and walked towards the bathroom to get ready.

After her shower, Sylvia changed into her usual white sweater and blue jeans, and walked to the mirror. Her hair was down from her night of sleep and fell a little past her shoulders. She was combing her hair when the blind girl from yesterday walked in and went into one of the stalls. Sylvia would've been mad at the girl for not being polite and saying good morning but she was too excited and nervous about initiation to care too much.

_I wonder what initiation will consist of_, thought Sylvia, as she tied her hair back into her signature ponytail, _it will clearly be a test of skill and teamwork since we have to work as a team of four people. _

This lead Sylvia to a different train of thought: _how are they going to put teams together?_

_Perhaps there will be some kind of draft for those who get picked as leaders_, Sylvia speculated as she finished tying up her hair in an acceptable fashion, _maybe it will be completely random_, thought Sylvia nervously.

Sylvia shook her head, _they wouldn't do that_, she decided, _it would be completely inefficient to do it randomly. _

Sylvia pulled some of her hair out of the pony tail and flicked it down over the left side of her face to complete her usual look.

_There's only one way find out,_ concluded Sylvia as she walked out of the bathroom. _I want to team up with Re at least._ And with that she walked out towards the locker room and initiation.

Basil was at his locker, getting ready for initiation. He grabbed his blue bracers out of his locker and placed them onto his arms. Most of the students were already suited up and talking amongst one another. He could already see Re with his sister Sylvia, whom Re had mentioned yesterday. He also saw Porphyrios sitting on one of the benches by himself and two girls, a dog Faunus with dark pink hair and a human with golden brown hair, conversing excitedly about something. Basil took out his pistols from his locker and equipped them to his belt. His pistols were shaped like an arch, with a curved, pointed extension off of the pistol's hilt. The barrel head was shaped like a right trapezoid and the magazines of the pistol stuck out past the curved extension. Overall, pistols were steel colored except for the magazines which were colored green. With his pistols at his belt Basil walked over to everyone else, ready for initiation to begin.

All the students were lined up on the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. Across from them were Glynda Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin, both of which were heading the initiation in the Emerald Forest. The students were all standing on platforms that were emblazoned with the Beacon logo. Sylvia assumed that the platforms were there to launch them all into the forest due to the fact that they had to get into the forest somehow. Sylvia's attention snapped back to the front as Ozpin started speaking.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

At this, Glynda continued with, "Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates…today."

Sylvia was taken aback, she knew they would be given teammates soon, but Glynda made it sound like they were going to be given teammates before or during the initiation.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon," Ozpin continued, "So, it's important to be teamed up with someone you work well with."

Ozpin paused as this statement sunk in with all the students and then finished by saying, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Sylvia's mouth dropped, not only were teammates being determined during initiation, but they were also being decided at complete random.

"After partnering up you will proceed to the center of the forest where you will find several relics. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. Each pair must obtain one of these relics and make it to the top cliff where we will mark you and grade you appropriately."

Sylvia closed her mouth, despite the whole random partner thing the task for initiation seemed to be pretty straight forward, and she knew she would score highly.

"Now take your positions."

At this command Sylvia drew her falchion from her belt and transformed it into its bow form. She grabbed an arrow from her quiver, knocked it, and grabbed some dust powder from her belt. She formed the dust into a rope and tied it to the arrow as students to her left were being launched into the air. Once she finished, she took her position as she too was launched into the air.

Flying through the air was a very exhilarating experience for Sylvia, the wind whipping through her hair, and the sun hitting her face, warming her entire body with its morning light. But this was no time to relish in the experience. Sylvia aimed her arrow for one of the larger trees and fired. She grabbed the dust rope as the arrow sunk into the trunk of the tree. Using the rope, Sylvia swung into the forest and barrel rolled when she hit the ground to reduce the force of impact. She stood up, switched her bow back into its sword form, and sheathed it. She started to walk towards the direction of the relics that Ozpin had mentioned before, hoping that she would be able to partner up with Re.

Basil landed without a scratch. Pistols in hand, he headed further into the forest, ducking behind trees and bushes for cover whenever he thought he heard the sounds of Grimm. He knew he was able to kill most of them, but he also knew it was probably best to save his energy until later.

_ROAR!_

The loud noise came from his left. Basil quickly moved behind a tree to try and avoid the encounter.

_BANG!_

Basil heard gunshots coming from the same direction. Trying to scope out the situation, Basil peeked out from behind the tree. In a small clearing stood three Ursai surrounding one of the students from the landing pads. On closer inspection, Basil saw that the student was Porphyrios, his head scarf now covering his face. Porphyrios held his weapons in hand, two black sickles connected by a chain. The sickles, on closer inspection, were also magnum pistols. Porphyrios' scaly pangolin tail was parallel to the ground, seemingly to help keep his balance. One of the Ursai attacked, whipping its claw sideways at Porphyrios' head. He ducked quickly and wrapped the blade of the sickle around the Ursa's head. With a quick pull of the trigger on the magnum, Porphyrios shot it in the neck, causing the sickle itself to pull back from the recoil and decapitate the Grimm. A second creature attacked and Porphyrios turned to face it. He blocked the attack with both of his weapons, but was unable to fully throw the attack of the Ursa. As he held the creature in a stalemate, the third Ursa charged from behind. Realizing Porphyrios was about to be blindsided, Basil leapt from his position and fired twice at the creature. Hit by the bullets, the third Ursa turned toward Basil and charged.

Basil was ready for this though, he connected the top of both of his pistols together which caused the magazines of the pistols to snap down and connect to each other. The magazines then extended in to what was now the shaft of a trident. The Ursa had almost covered the short distance between them and was about to strike him. Quickly, Basil dodged out of the way and buried his trident into the Ursa's side. The monster yelled in pain, as Basil fired into the Grimm's insides, causing his trident to be pulled out of the Ursa. The monster crumpled to the ground dead as Basil turned toward Porphyrios and the other creature. Basil saw that while he fought the Grimm, Porphyrios had already taken care of the Ursa he had been engaged with. Porphyrios was now facing Basil, and their eyes locked. Remembering what Ozpin had said before, Basil knew that Porphyrios was going to be his partner for the rest of Beacon. Despite Basil not fully trusting Faunus, he was okay with being partnered with Porphyrios, mostly due to the fact that he had no choice, but also because he was clearly good at combat, meaning getting through initiation would be easy. Trusting would prove difficult, but battling side by side was the best fix for that.

Basil then realized that they had been just standing there in silence for a while.

_Alright Basil_, Basil said to himself, _you just have to make a good impression_.

"So…" Basil started, trailing off. _Great start_, Basil scolded himself.

"Yea I know we're partners," Porphyrios interrupted, "Now if you don't mind I would like to get going for the relics."

_Straight to the point then_, thought Basil, "I would prefer you give thanks considering I just saved you from the Ursai," Basil said, indicating the bear-like corpses.

"And I would prefer to get a move on," Porphyrios retorted, in a gruff manner, "We have a mission to complete."

"Fine then," Basil replied, raising his hand in the air, "lead the way then."

Porphyrios, his sickles at his belt, turned and walked into the woods. Basil detached his trident, reverting it back into its dual pistol form. He then clipped them back onto his belt and followed Porphyrios into the woods.

_Alright I don't think I'm going the right way_, Re decided as he trekked through a very dark portion of the forest. He had been walking in this direction for what seemed like hours and still hadn't found much, except for a few Beowolves, which he had dispatched easily.

_Oh well_, Re continued, _maybe this is a shortcut to the relics_.

Re smiled to himself at the thought of being the first one there and seeing the look on Sylvia's face when she found out.

_Snap_

Re turned around quickly, reaching for his weapons too late as he was hit by an unidentified object. Re found himself on the ground with a blade at his throat. The blade came from a blue, steel gauntlet, with a sapphire encrusted in the center of it and a gold design surrounding it. The gauntlet belonged to the blue haired boy from yesterday. The boy looked confused as he looked at Re. He retracted his blade back into his gauntlet and released Re.

"Sorry about that," apologized the blue haired boy as he looked around the woods brushing off his leather jacket, "I thought you were a Grimm."

The boy seemed very distracted by something, by what Re didn't know. The boy was still looking through the woods intently, so Re thought it would be a good idea to break the ice with his new partner.

"Well yea, 'cause I look so much like a Grimm," chuckled Re jokingly.

"Yea…" replied the boy, still distracted by the forest around him.

Re was slightly put off by this strange boy, but regardless he was Re's partner now and he would have to work well with him.

"So, what's your name?" asked Re

The blue haired boy finally turned toward him, a small smirk on his face as he realized what he was doing, the scars on his cheek and chin became more prominent on his face as he moved it.

"Wai," the boy answered, "and you?"

Re matched Wai's smirk with a grin of his own, "I'm Re," replied Re, "I have a feeling we will make good partners, heck even our names rhyme that's gotta be a good sign."

Wai let out a small laugh, "If that's how you judge things than we are already done for."

Re laughed, he definitely knew they were a good match now.

"Well Wai if you're done cracking jokes, we got a relic to find."

"Only if you're done cracking jokes," responded Wai, and with that they both continued to walk through the forest.

_BANG, BANG, BOOM, CRASH_

All Sylvia could hear were the sounds of other battles throughout the forest, as other students engaged the creatures of Grimm. Whether it was a miracle or a curse, Sylvia had not run into anything since she had landed in the forest. While this meant that she had not encountered Grimm of any kind, it also meant she had not been partnered up at this point. She sighed in anger as she continued throughout the woods, trudging towards where the relic lay.

_Honestly_, Sylvia thought angrily, _I would even go for a pack of Bewolves to fight if it meant some sort of interaction with something._

Sylvia sighed again; _I just want something to happen right now, anything_.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, a girl came flying through the trees on her left, crashed into a tree on her right and fell at Sylvia's feet in a heap.

Stunned for a good five seconds, Sylvia now recognized her as the blind girl she had yelled at yesterday.

_Great_, thought Sylvia, _she's my partner._

A rustling came from the trees that the blind girl had flown from and Sylvia turned and drew her falchion as she prepared to face the beast that had just sent a student flying through the trees.

_The monster has to be something powerful, maybe an Ursa or Death Stalker_, thought Sylvia, _it could even be a pack of Ursai_

She was excited to finally fight something today and finally got her opportunity as the Grimm jumped out of the cluster of trees and landed a few feet from Sylvia. It was a lone Beowolf.

_Really_, thought Sylvia groaning at the weak monster that stood before her

_Not only is my partner blind_, continued Sylvia, _but apparently she can't handle a single Beowolf._

The Beowolf charged at her and Sylvia sidestepped with ease and sliced her falchion straight through the creature, cleaving it in half. The Grimm lay there dead as Sylvia walked over to the blind girl. She held out her hand and quickly realized that was a mistake. But the blind girl grabbed Sylvia's hand immediately as if she knew where it was.

Sylvia shook her head, _that was impossible_, she thought, _oh well better introduce myself_.

"Hello, my name is Sylvia," said Sylvia, with forced politeness, she was still ticked off a bit about how rude the blind girl had been and at how weak she was.

"Namra," replied the blind girl, more politely than Sylvia thought the girl would have been considering what happened yesterday.

Still, Sylvia had to address Namra's battle skills, to show that this was not acceptable.

"Well Namra," Sylvia started with an edge to her voice, "you have a long way to go if you can't handle a lone Beowolf by yourself."

Namra, who was brushing herself off, replied in a stiff irritated voice, "It wasn't the Beowolf who attacked me."

Sylvia could feel the irritation in Namra's voice and was about to reprimand her for it but then realized what Namra had said.

"Wait, then what did?" asked Sylvia

That was when the creature in question appeared. A King Taijitu, a two headed snake Grimm, appeared in between them, one head immediately lunged at Sylvia. She dodged to the right, only barely avoiding the fangs of the snake, and then sliced at the head with her blade. The head dodged the blow as the second head came in for an attack against her. That's when Namra attacked; she drew her weapons, twin short swords attached to each other by a long chain. One of these blades Namra threw at the head of the snake that was attacking Sylvia. Unfortunately, the snake was able to dodge the blade aimed for its head, but this gave ample opportunity for Sylvia to attack. She changed her falchion into its bow form, knocked an arrow and quickly fired at the snake's head. The arrow hit the snake in the neck and it hissed in rage. The monster once again charged at the duo. Namra raised her weapon to fight, but Sylvia knew they were just wasting time with this monster. She reached for her dust containers at her belt and threw a handful of red dust towards a nearby tree. Namra, however, did not notice her throw the dust and started running toward the monster as the tree caught fire and fell. Sylvia reached out and yanked Namra back.

"We gotta get out of here!" she commanded.

Namra followed her, begrudgingly, further into the woods.

After about 15 minutes of running through the woods they stopped to catch their breath.

"Why did we run?" Namra asked, "We could have taken it easily."

Sylvia sighed, _why did she have to put up with this?_

"Because," Sylvia responded, "The objective of the mission was to obtain a relic in the forest, not to destroy every monster in the forest."

"But he also told us to destroy every monster in our path or we would die."

"Yes, but it is much faster and more efficient to avoid a monster that is avoidable than to fight it."

That was only part of her reasoning. Sylvia didn't fully trust a blind girl to be able to take down a King Taijitu with her. However, Sylvia would never admit that, because if she did, she would risk causing a bigger rift between them. And at this point, they needed as much team work as possible.

"Look let's just keep moving," suggested Sylvia as she walked off toward where the relics were supposed to be.

Namra, irritated at being told what to do, followed behind her into the forest.

_BOOM!_

_RATATATATAT_

Celestia and Aurelia had finally found the clearing where the relics were and had immediately been ambushed by a pack of five Ursai. They had already killed three of them, but the sounds of the conflict caused four more to emerge from the woods.

_ Maybe using a submachine gun and a rocket launcher was not the stealthiest option_, thought Celestia.

She looked at Aurelia and met her gaze. They both nodded in agreement, as if reading each other's minds, and switched their weapons into melee form.

Celestia's submachine gun extended out back into its katana form, as Aurelia's rocket launcher also extended into its double bladed battle ax form. Both weapons back in their melee forms, the two girls stood back to back against the six Ursai surrounding them.

"You got the three behind me Aurelia?" asked Celestia

Aurelia grinned, "Of course, what do you take me for? An amateur?"

Celestia let out a small chuckle, "Of course not, let's get 'em."

The first Ursa attacked Celestia from her right, swinging its vicious claws. She rapidly rolled under its arm as Aurelia spun her body in place, swinging her battle ax straight into the Ursa, cutting it clean in half. As Aurelia spun, Celestia moved to the creature on Aurelia's left, her exposed side, and sliced at its head. The Ursa somehow dodged her first slice, but couldn't avoid the follow up slice to the chest. The creature roared as steel met flesh, leaving a gash in its chest. Celestia decided to end the fight with a clean stroke to the neck, decapitating it.

Aurelia was still fighting off the other four, using her body's momentum to add force to the blows of her ax. Her plan was working as she had already finished off another beast in a similar manner to the first. However, the Ursai were starting to keep their distance from the deadly weapon, waiting for a way to attack without feeling the sting of its steel.

"Come at me Ursa," taunted Aurelia, "You can't touch me without first getting hit by my ax!"

Unfortunately, Aurelia spoke too soon as she moved too close to one of the Ursai, leaving her left side open for another Ursa to strike her in the side. The blow sent Aurelia backward and to the ground. Thankfully, her aura protected her from most of the attack, but she was quite dazed from the sudden blow. The Ursai started to close in on Aurelia as she was starting to regain her composure.

Celestia saw what had happened, and leapt into action, literally. She changed her katana into its submachine gun form and jumped off of Aurelia's back, spraying ammo rounds at the three Ursai. Confused by the sudden hailstorm of bullets, the Ursai stopped in their tracks, just as Celestia thought they would. As she fell toward the ground, she rolled and switched her weapon back to the katana and stabbed right into the center Ursa's throat. The creature to her left swiped at her, but was too slow as Celestia had already nimbly rolled away and ran back to Aurelia.

"Finish them off!" yelled Celestia.

"No need to tell me twice," responded Aurelia, as she transformed her ax back into the rocket launcher and fired.

The blast destroyed the remaining Ursai, and left Celestia and Aurelia to catch their breath.

"Well," panted Celestia, "I guess you could say that was an EXPLOSIVE encounter."

Aurelia groaned audibly, "Must you?"

Celestia grinned, "Of course!" she said cheerily. She knew Aurelia did not like her puns at all, but that didn't stop her from making them.

_Besides_, Celestia thought while scratching her dog ears, _we got to partner up for the four years at Beacon, I deserve to make a few puns every now and then._

They both turned around and headed toward the site of the ruins. The ruins had a stone circle floor with five pillars standing on the edges of the circle. Two more pillars had apparently been destroyed already, leaving broken pieces of stone scattered around the clearing. The pillars supported a washer shaped ceiling, a third of which had collapsed already. Twenty-four pedestals stood within the pillars, each of which had one chess piece upon it. As Celestia approached the pedestals she noticed that some of them were missing.

"These must be the relics that Ozpin had been talking about," stated Celestia.

"I guess so," replied Aurelia, "I'm surprised we weren't the first ones to get here, I mean it's not a very hard place to find."

"Well I guess I'll just pick one," suggested Celestia

Aurelia laughed, "If we let you pick one we would be here for twice as long. I'll pick, you guard, you're weapon is better equipped to guard anyway."

Celestia conceded both points and went to stand guard. After less than a minute, Aurelia came back with the white bishop piece.

"Was there no white knight?" asked Celestia

"No someone must have taken it already," replied Aurelia, "there's actually another white bishop as well."

"That must be how they determine the teams," speculated Celestia, "Once again: completely random."

Aurelia's face fell at the mention of team forming. Celestia knew that Aurelia was just as nervous as she herself was about the formation of teams. They both had had problems with trust in the past and learned not to trust new people too quickly. Yet until now, Aurelia had kept her nervousness hidden for Celestia's sake. That was what Aurelia had done ever since they had known each other; she would protect Celestia from everything, even her own feelings of doubt. But now that they were in Beacon they had to learn to let go of their nervousness about meeting and trusting other people. Celestia knew this and she was sure that deep down Aurelia knew this too.

"Hey," Celestia spoke in a soothing tone as she addressed Aurelia.

Aurelia looked up at her taller companion.

"We're going to be fine," Celestia continued, "We're going to get some great teammates and we're going to have an amazing first year."

Aurelia smiled, "I know that Celeste, it's just, I can't help but be a bit nervous about forming teams this year. Especially considering the fact that it's our first time in a while that we will have to deal with people we don't know."

"Well let's worry about it later," suggested Celestia, "we should leave before-"

_BOOM!_

Celestia and Aurelia turn towards the cliff in time to see two boys being hurled through the air and off the cliff.

So far their partnership was going quite well, thought Wai as he and Re walked through the Emerald forest. The conversation was minimal as they were constantly fighting off creatures of Grimm that were trying to ambush them, which was fine considering Wai was mostly concentrating on getting the mission done.

_He is pretty funny_, Wai had to admit, _he could be a pretty good friend later on._

Wai shook his head. _No,_ he reasoned, _best not get too attached._

His thought was put on hold when three Boarbatusks, boar-like Grimm, rolled out at a high speed from the bushes. Wai, frustrated that he didn't notice in time, was hit by one of them and hurled into a tree. Re was able to dodge the other two by rolling over to the side as he drew his two scimitars. Wai stood up and extended the blades on his gauntlet. The Boarbatusks changed direction and charged at them again, two at Re and one at Wai. Using their blades, they were able to deflect the attacks of the Grimm, only to be attacked again.

"We need to get out of here," cried Wai as he deflected yet another blow.

"Got it," responded Re, and he attached his scimitars together forming one blade. The blade then transformed to form a double barrel shotgun. Re fired off two shots into the armor of one of the Grimm, stunning it in its place.

"This way," Re called out.

Wai dove out of the way of the other two beasts, as Re finished off the boar with a point blank shotgun blast. Both started running off into the woods, away from the other beasts. Wai retracted his blades and prepared the grenade launcher part of his gauntlets. The blades in his gauntlet moved half way out of the back of his gauntlet diagonally upward to make room for the grenades to fire.

Suddenly the forest ended off in a cliff for which both teens quickly stopped before they ran off the cliff. They turned ready to fight the two Grimm charging at them. Re reformed his two scimitars and charged at the charging Grimm. The first one was upon him when Re sliced at the rolling Grimm, making it swerve off course and into a tree. The second one bowled towards him quickly, noticing that Re had his guard down. However, he was ready for that and he guarded against the blow with both swords, stopping the Grimm in its tracks. The force of the blow caused Re to skid closer to the edge of the cliff before Re flipped the Grimm into the air. Switching his scimitars into its shotgun form and fired at the boar's stomach, killing it before it hit the ground. The boar that swerved off before now came at the two of them. Wanting to finish the battle quickly, Wai raised his grenade launcher gauntlet at the enemy.

Re, realizing what was about to happen, cried out, "Wait we-" but it was too late.

_BOOM!_

The resulting explosion sent the two off the cliff and down to the area down below. They landed hard on the ground, their aura absorbing most of the impact causing them to just be a bit winded.

"-are too close to the cliff," Re finished breathless from the explosion and the fall.

"Yea, definitely not my best idea of the day," conceded Wai

Wai stood up shakily after he had recovered from his initial shock and saw two girls, a girl with gold hair and a Faunus with pink hair. Re, noticing where Wai was looking, glanced in the direction of his teammate and smiled.

"Well it looks like it wasn't a total loss," he said flirtatiously, "so do you two come here often?"

The two girls stood in stunned silence, completely at a loss for words by the surprise entrance.

Wai rolled his eyes at the antics of his teammate, "Yea, they come here on a regular basis to fight Grimm and watch fools like you fall from the sky due to tactical mistakes."

Re laughed out loud, "That's true," he agreed, "and here I was thinking you had no wit."

Wai smirked, "I'm full of surprises aren't I?"

"We'll see," Re replied, "Let's go grab a relic."

Wai walked up to the podiums and grabbed the black knight relic. He turned to see Re up and ready to go. With relic in hand they headed back to the cliff starting point.

Aurelia and Celestia watched as the two teens left the area, still somewhat shocked at seeing them fall from the cliff. When they finally recovered, Aurelia turned to her Faunus friend.

"What on Remnant was that about?" she asked, very confused as to what happened.

"I think those two exploded off the cliff, fell where the relics were and then the blond one tried to flirt with us," replied Celestia.

"Well that was interesting I guess," responded Aurelia, "anyway we should get back to the cliff with our relic."

However, they were interrupted by something else. Two more teens jumped out of the forest, running from some form of Grimm. One of the teens was a Faunus boy with a scaly, pangolin tail, the other was a brown haired boy with a black bomber jacket.

"I told you that was a bad idea Basil!" shouted the Faunus boy to the brown haired boy.

"Sorry Porph," replied Basil, "I didn't think it would come after us like that."

"It's a Grimm! Of course it's gonna come after us!" the Faunus yelled, "and my name is Porphyrios not Porph!"

"Well unfortunately for you, Porph is shorter and easier to say!" Basil shouted back at him.

Then the source of their trouble appeared. A giant Nevermore, a bird-like Grimm, flew from above the treetops, shrieking at its prey that had tried to run. Basil raised his pistols and fired at the Grimm while Porphyrios attached the tips of both his sickles to the corresponding sickles' base, to form a rifle with a circular hole in the middle and a chain across the middle. He fired his rifle at the Nevermore as well hitting it a couple of times, but not enough to deter the bird Grimm. The Nevermore then let lose a rain of feathers down at them. Porphyrios ducked out of the way back into the forest, while Basil seemed to dodge the feathers almost effortlessly, still firing at the Nevermore. Aurelia also noticed that Basil had some sort of green aura surrounding him as he dodged the feathers.

"We have to help them," Celestia concluded, voicing what Aurelia was already thinking.

"Right," Aurelia replied arming her rocket launcher, "Let's go."

The two girls charged in once the Nevermore's feather storm had stopped. Celestia fired her submachine gun up at the Nevermore, striking it with great accuracy, while Aurelia prepared to fire her rocket. Basil and Porphyrios provided extra cover as well, seeing what Aurelia was doing. Before Aurelia could fire her shot however, the Nevermore dove at the four students. Aurelia saw Porphyrios get clipped by the edge of the wing before she dodged out of the way and into the trees. When she got back to the clearing she saw Basil still standing, the green aura from before dissipating, Porphyrios was getting up after being hit by the wing. Aurelia then noticed that Celestia was not there. In a panic, she ran into the clearing and looked around trying to spot her but to no avail. Fear rising into her chest, she heard the Nevermore shriek again and she looked up. The Nevermore was rising into the sky with Celestia hanging onto the wing. She heard machine gun fire as Celestia continued to fire at the bird until the Grimm shrugged her off and she was sent flying to the ground. In the air, Celestia tried to position herself to land correctly. When she hit the ground there was a sickening snapping sound and she slumped over onto the ground. Overcome by rage, Aurelia turned her rocket onto the Nevermore and fired. The rocket landed with perfect accuracy, knocking the bird out of the sky and toward Aurelia. The bird fell to the ground where Basil finished it off with a quick stab to the head. Porphyrios ran towards Celestia. Aurelia followed him as well as Basil. When they reached her, Porphyrios looked her over to see what the damage was.

"Is she okay?" cried Aurelia, the distress evident in her voice.

"Her aura absorbed most of the impact from the fall, but she still suffered a broken ankle from it," diagnosed Porphyrios.

Aurelia sighed in relief at the news, but it was short lived as a Death Stalker, a scorpion-like Grimm, appeared from the woods due to the commotion. Everyone quickly raised their weapons including Celestia. Celestia fired at the Grimm while Aurelia and Porpyrios charged with their melee weapons, hoping to break through the Death Stalker's armor. Aurelia slammed her ax into the Grimm's left claw, but to no avail as the scorpion caught the weapon. Basil then moved forward, transforming his pistols into his trident and stabbed at the Grimm's face. The scorpion cried out and slashed at Basil but missed.

"Basil! Ax girl!" yelled Porphyrios, "get him to use his tail!"

Basil obliged, continuing to stab at the Grimm's face, trying to provoke it. Aurelia slammed her ax into the beast's right claw as Porphyrios did the same to the left claw, keeping the Grimm's claws at bay. Annoyed by the three way attack, the Death Stalker shrieked again and plunged its tail at Basil.

"Dodge!" yelled Porphyrios, as the stinger neared Basil.

Basil acknowledged the command and quickly moved to the side at the last minute. The scorpion's tail impacted the ground and got stuck from the force of the attack. Quickly the three attacked the body of the scorpion, trying to find some weak point. However, this just made the monster angrier and he smacked Aurelia to the ground. Basil and Porphyrios charged the Grimm and started attacking again. They barely made a dent in the armor when the Death Stalker hit them into a tree. The Grimm then moved toward Celestia.

_Oh no you don't_, thought Aurelia as she switched her ax to rocket form and fired. The rocket hit the scorpion's side and made it turn toward her instead. She fired again, hitting the scorpion square in the face. The beast cried out in pain, but the only damage that the scorpion sustained was a slight crack in the monster's armor.

_If I can just hit that spot I can finish it off_, thought Aurelia and she charged forward as the Grimm charged as well. Aurelia swung her ax at the Death Stalker as it swung its claws at her. Aurelia's left shoulder was hit by the beast's claw, causing her ax swing to miss the crack in the armor and just glance off another part of the body. The second claw blindsided her right side, slamming her into the ground and lose her weapon. She stood up off the ground and saw the monster a few feet in front of her while her weapon was on the other side of the Grimm. Aurelia didn't have time to figure out how to get to her weapon as the scorpion charged at her.

"Hey!"

The shout confused both Aurelia and the Death Stalker as they turned toward it. There was Celestia, struggling to stand on two feet, staring down the monster. She pointed her submachine gun at the beast and let loose a stream of bullets. The bullets hit the monster's armor, a mere annoyance. But it did the trick as the Death Stalker charged at Celestia instead. Fear entered Aurelia's heart as she saw the scorpion closing in on her injured friend.

"No! Celestia!" cried Aurelia.

Her screams did nothing however, as the scorpion continued the charge. Celestia switched her weapon back into its katana form, readying for the fight. Aurelia watched in horror as the Death Stalker went in to crush Celestia. However, something entirely different happened, Celestia was able to duck underneath the claws of the scorpion, lunge and stab the monster straight through the crack in its armor that Aurelia had created. No noise came from the monster as it fell limp to the ground, dead. Aurelia, Basil and Porphyrios all ran towards Celestia. Basil and Porphyrios got to her first and Porphyrios immediately barked out orders.

"Ax, keep watch, Basil carry Celestia, I'm gonna grab a relic."

Aurelia was a bit ticked that Porphyrios would just try to take control like that, "Hey I have a name," she called out angrily, "and it's Aurelia."

Porphyrios turned towards her, "What you want a medal? Stop wasting time and keep watch, I'd prefer to come out of this alive, thank you."

Aurelia was angrier at that comment but decided it was not worth it and turned her eyes towards the forest, but then she saw that Basil had not picked up Celestia yet. In fact he wasn't even doing anything. Basil seemed hesitant and wouldn't meet Celestia's eyes.

_Oh great_, thought Aurelia angrily, _another person who fears the Faunus without understanding them._

"Come on Basil!" yelled Porphyrios, the other white bishop piece in his hand, "just pick her the hell up!"

Basil, embarrassed that he didn't do it already, picked Celestia up "bridal style" and followed Porphyrios.

_Shoot_, realized Aurelia looking at the white bishop piece in her hand, _I have to deal with both of them for four years!_ Sighing, Aurelia followed them through the woods as well.

They had been walking for about ten minutes and Namra realized something: She could not stand Sylvia. She constantly was telling her what to do, trying to make sure Namra knew of the obstacles in the way, and most of the Grimm they encountered was taken care of by Sylvia. For some people this may not be bad but Namra was starting to think that Sylvia was babying her due to her blindness.

_Nobody understands_, thought Namra, _just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't handle things that normal people can._

They emerged into a clearing where the circular ruins that held the relics were. As they approached, Sylvia held up a hand.

"You stay here and cover us," commanded Sylvia, "I'll get the relic."

Before Namra could protest, Sylvia was off to grab a relic. She came back holding the black knight piece.

"Alright let's get out of here."

Realizing there was no point in trying to argue right now, Namra followed Sylvia back to the starting cliff, still fuming.

They walked for about ten minutes longer, with Sylvia still pointing out everything for Namra to avoid, when Namra had enough.

"Low branch ahead," Sylvia alerted.

"Stop," Namra spoke.

Sylvia turned toward Namra, "What?" she asked; she almost seemed annoyed that Namra was slowing them down.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Namra requested

"Doing what?" Sylvia inquired

"You keep treating me like I can't handle myself," expressed Namra

"I'm just trying to look out for my partner," explained Sylvia.

"Back at the ruins you didn't trust me to get a simple relic from the ruins," Namra pointed out.

"You have the longer range weapon," Sylvia clarified, anger in her eyes, "it was strategic thinking! Nothing more."

"Well then, Miss Strategy," Namra continued, "tell me, is it strategic thinking to point out every single obstacle in my way."

Sylvia looked outraged, "Excuse me for wanting to make sure that my blind teammate is able to get through the forest without injuring herself!" she exclaimed in a loud voice.

"Making sure I'm okay is one thing," Namra replied in a calm, but angry, voice, "babying me like I can't handle myself is another thing."

"But you can't handle yourself," Sylvia yelled, "look at you, you're blind! You can't see a damned thing!"

Namra was about to retort, when a Beowolf jumped out of the bushes toward Sylvia. Namra drew her twin short swords as Sylvia cut down the Grimm in the blink of an eye. However, another Beowolf appeared behind Sylvia. Namra threw one of her blades right at it, hitting it right between the eyes. The Grimm fell as she pulled the blade out by the chain without moving at all. Sylvia looked at the Grimm Namra had slain and then looked at her in shock. Before Namra could make a snide comment, two more Grimm appeared out of the woods. Once again they were swiftly taken down as three more showed up. Sylvia and Namra took positions to fight as four more showed up, surrounding them.

"Duck!" yelled Namra.

Not knowing what Namra was going to do, Sylvia ducked as Namra grabbed the middle part of the long chain connecting her weapons with both hands. She raised it above her head and spun it in a circle, causing her blades to swing in a wide circle, slicing through each the Beowolves surrounding them.

Namra stopped spinning her weapons when the last Beowolf fell and reeled in her swords. Sylvia got up and took in all the carnage that had taken place.

"Still think I can't handle myself?"

Before Sylvia could answer, even more Beowolves showed up. It was hard to tell how many there were, but Namra assumed there were too many for the two of them to fight.

"I'll answer that later, first let's get out of here," replied Sylvia.

"Good idea," agreed Namra.

As the Beowolves charged, Namra flung both swords at two Beowolves taking them out and, hopefully, slowing down the rest of them. With Grimm in pursuit, the two teens ran through the woods toward the cliff, avoiding as many branches, roots and rocks as they could. As they ran, Sylvia tried slowing down the Grimm by throwing ice and fire dust behind her, creating ice barriers and burning trees down to fall in the way. Eventually they reached a clearing with the cliff right in front of them.

"We…..made…it," Sylvia gasped in between breaths.

"Yes…..we did," replied Namra, nearly as tired as Sylvia.

However, before they could celebrate any further, the Beowolves showed up out of the trees. Drawing their weapons, they prepared to fight, even though they knew they wouldn't be able to take on so many at once. Suddenly two grenades came flying out of the woods to the right, blasting four Grimm off their feet. Turning towards where the blast came from, they spotted two boys running out of the woods towards them.

"Re!" called out Sylvia, recognizing one of them.

They approached the two girls and Sylvia ran over to hug Re, happy to see him.

"Fancy seeing you here Sylvia," joked Re.

"Shut up," said Sylvia, playfully punching him on the arm.

As they greeted each other, the Beowolves had gotten closer and now had surrounded them. Re drew his scimitars as the other boy extended two blades out of his gauntlets.

"Man sis, I can't leave you alone for two seconds without you getting attacked by seas of Grimm," stated Re with a smile.

"Well I wanted to leave some for you and your friend," replied Sylvia with a smile as well.

Re chuckled, "Well don't worry Sylvia; Wai and I are here to take care of it."

Wai looked around at the Grimm, "There appear to be twenty Beowolves surrounding us," analyzed Wai.

"Think you can take that many?" inquired Namra.

Wai smirked, "Piece of cake."

"Well how's about we leave some for the rest of us," voiced Sylvia, "five each, everyone pick a side."

One of the Beowolves lunged at Wai. Wai side stepped and kicked the Beowolf in the jaw, before slicing its head clean off.

"Guess I've got this side," remarked Wai

The rest of the Grimm charged at the four students.

"Go!" yelled Sylvia and she stabbed at the first Grimm she could reach.

The clearing was overcome by teeth, claws, weapons and bodies, as the students fought through the Grimm attacking them. Re sliced up two Grimm quickly and then blocked a third Grimm, quickly spinning and giving the Beowolf a new hole in its back. Namra kept her distance from her five, throwing, reeling and spinning her swords around, killing most of her Grimm fairly quickly. Wai stabbed and swung at his Grimm as they tried to keep away from his blades. Getting no where, Wai quickly switched one gauntlet to grenade launcher form and fired at his group killing three of them. Sylvia blocked a blow with her falchion and twisted the blade around, pushing her final Grimm off balance and then stabbing him in the throat. More Grimm showed up and they started adapting to the fighting style of each warrior.

"They are starting to fight better," noticed Wai as he was thrown to the ground.

"Noted," replied Sylvia, "Switch!" she yelled and turned around, jumping over Namra who charged at Sylvia's previous Grimm, throwing her blade and hitting one right between the eyes. Sylvia landed on one of the beasts and stabbed it right in the head with her blade. Wai back flipped off the ground as Re ran at Wai's Grimm, shooting one in the chest with his shotgun. Wai fired a grenade at Re's previous cluster of Grimm, eliminating two of them. They continued to fight the Grimm in this fashion, finally finishing off the last Grimm with an arrow in its chest from Sylvia's bow.

Cut, battered and bruised, the four approached the cliff, ready to finally start their first year at Beacon academy.

_The initiation was not as bad as I thought it would be,_ thought Basil as he helped his teammate Celestia sit down with her ankle cast. Thankfully her aura would have it healed by the next day; after all it wasn't too serious of a break. He looked around at his other teammates; Aurelia was certainly protective of Celestia considering her reaction when she landed wrong. Apparently they had been friends since their days at Sanctum; at least, that's what Celestia had told him when he was helping to bandage her up. Both girls seemed fairly open for small talk but overall seemed nervous around Basil.

_It's understandable though_, thought Basil, _we are all pretty nervous about starting a new semester in this academy._

Then there was his own partner, Porphyrios. He was silent as the grave; he only talked when he had some order or suggestion. He didn't like small talk or trying to get to know people. Basil assumed that would all go away later as they all got to hang around each other more.

Basil turned his head toward the stage in the amphitheater and listened as Ozpin announced the next team.

"Sylvia Challis, Namra Rahal, Re Challis, Wai Siril," the headmaster called each student by name as they all approached the stage, "The four of you retrieved the black knight pieces, from this day forward you will work together as Team Sunrise."

On the screen above the letters SNRS appeared underneath the students' portraits.

"Lead by, Sylvia Challis," finished Ozpin.

Sylvia was shocked, she knew she was amazing at combat but she never knew she would be picked as the leader of a team. She looked over at Re as they left the stage and Re gave her a big grin, showing that he was proud of her. Namra was uncertain about Sylvia's leadership, as she had seen how hot tempered she could be. Wai was very put-off that he was not picked as leader, considering he thought he was the most analytical of the group, but decided that the headmaster probably knew better than he did and would give her a chance.

Basil stood up as he had a feeling they would be called up soon. He went to help Celestia up, but Aurelia was already there to give her support.

_Well I'm sure she still doesn't quite trust us too much_, thought Basil_, after all we might as well be strangers to them._

"Porphyrios Chroma, Celestia Glenister, Aurelia Pietro, Basil Kriegal." The four students walked up to the stage as Ozpin called them up. Standing at attention, the four of them stood side by side, while Aurelia helped Celestia not fall over.

"The four of you retrieved the white bishop pieces, from this day forward you will work together as Team Peacock."

The letters PCAK appeared under their portrait as Ozpin continued, "Lead by, Porphyrios Chroma."

Basil smiled, glad that his partner had become the leader of their team, but Porphyrios didn't show any emotion as he moved off stage. Basil followed as well as Aurelia and Celestia. They all sat down and were given a room number for their dorm.

"Well, the year has officially started," said Basil trying to make some conversation.

"Yup," replied Celestia, "should be a good time."

"Whatever," stated Porphyrios, in a gruff manner.

"What's the matter, stone face?" mocked Aurelia, "Not excited about a new experience?"

"You guys can get excited all you want," assured Porphyrios, "doesn't change the fact that this is a school designed to train the most lethal of fighters." He got up off of the bench, "I'm going to the dorm. Join me when you're done 'celebrating'," he said scathingly. And with that he walked off.

"What's with him?" asked Aurelia

"I don't know," replied Basil, "He's just like that I guess," but Basil wasn't sure that that was the case.

_Either way_, thought Basil, _no use worrying about it right now_. He turned toward the stage in time to see the final team announced. The screen showed four girls, one with black hair and red highlights, one with white hair, one with black hair and another with yellow. Below their portraits were the letters of their team, RWBY. Basil realized he recognized the yellow haired girl and the red highlighted girl. According to what Ozpin was saying, apparently the red highlighted girl was the leader of this team.

_Ozpin certainly has an interesting way of picking leaders_, thought Basil, _after all she is certainly younger than the other three._

"It looks like this is going to be an interesting year," remarked Ozpin as he ended the initiation of the teams. And with that, the screen was turned off and the students were all sent to their dorms to prepare for classes tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Notes: I'm getting really bad at posting these things in a reasonable time, sorry about that. Anyways here's chapter 4! Hope you enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 4: Sparks

A man was walking down the streets of Vale around 8 pm. The night breeze brushed against his black suit and tie as he walked. Black shoes crunched against the pavement and his black pant legs brushed against each other as he approached his destination. He had on a bowler hat that covered his close cropped black hair. His tall muscular build was intimidating to most people while his white skin shined in the moon light. As he walked down the street, he looked around with his cold gray eyes at the buildings surrounding him. Eventually he spotted the one he was looking for, the police station, and approached it.

He walked in and saw three police guards. Two were sitting at their desks, typing in entries for criminals they had recently apprehended. The third was at a reception desk and was in the middle of a call with his boss. The man with the bowler hat approached the guard at the reception desk, the man held up a finger signaling him to hold on. He hung up when he was done with his call and turned toward the man in the bowler hat.

"May I help you?" he asked pleasantly.

"Yes," the man in the suit said gruffly, "I have an appointment with Sapphire Vex."

"You're name?"

"Topaz Vex," the cold eyed man replied.

The receptionist smiled, "Oh you must be her uncle. She mentioned you would be coming by."

He turned toward one of the other guards, "Hey Moss, show this man to the detective office."

The man named Moss nodded, and led Topaz to a door behind the reception desk. They walked down a hallway with doors and to the elevator at the end. Moss pushed the up button on the elevator.

"You wanted the detective's office on the second floor right?" he asked.

"No," Topaz grunted, "I wanted to go the cells on B2."

Moss was confused now, "But I heard you tell Dusty that you wanted the detective's office."

Topaz smiled menacingly at the police guard, which made Moss very uncomfortable.

"Oh right," the gray eyed man realized, "I forgot."

Moss never saw the punch coming until it had already hit him straight in the face. He fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

"I lied," spoke Topaz quietly and entered the elevator that had just arrived. He hit the button marked B2 and the doors closed quickly.

Standing in the elevator, the suited man watched as the numbers on the elevator changed from 1 to B1. However, between B1 and B2 the elevator stopped before reaching its destination. A voice on the intercom spoke out to the entire building.

"Attention, a man in a suit and bowler hat has infiltrated the building and is heading to the prison cells; stop him, use force if necessary."

Topaz sighed, _of course someone saw me_, he thought, _oh well it doesn't matter; they can take all the time they want preparing for the elevator to come._

He reached into the pocket on the inside of his jacket and pulled out his black brass knuckles. He put them on his hands and switched them into their compact pistol form. Arms at his side, the elevator started again, descending down to B2 and the cells. Slowing his breathing down, the man prepared for the elevator door to open.

_Ding!_

His face snapped up, the doors opened and Topaz lifted his guns, shooting at every single guard in the lobby area of the floor. Several shots connected with each target, whether it was their leg, head or chest. Within minutes of entering the floor, every guard in the room was either dead or incapacitated. The man emptied his guns of the empty cartridges and reloaded new ones. After he had finished reloading, he felt a pistol placed against the back of his head.

"Hello, 'Topaz'," the woman spoke quietly and calmly.

The man smiled, "It's been a while 'Sapphire'," he replied.

He turned around to face her. She had her red hair tied up in a ponytail and wore a blue fedora on her head. She had thin, black rimmed glasses, fair skin and blue eyes. She wore a white shirt and red tie with a black jacket, pants and shoes. She held her pistol right at the man's eye height.

"The place secure?" asked 'Topaz', as if engaging in simple conversation.

The woman lowered her weapon, "Yes, if by secure you mean everyone is dead."

The man shrugged, "Oh well, they had it coming."

The woman shook her head, "Guards will be here any minute now."

"Well then, give me the card key to the solitary confinement," replied 'Topaz', "also do you know where the weapon is?"

'Sapphire' threw a card key at him, "Here," she said, "the weapon is in the room right before it."

"Convenient," remarked the man.

"Just finish quickly so we can get out of this dump," replied the woman, "I can only give you so much time."

"Got it," he replied, and opened the door to the weapons chamber. He looked around and found what he was looking for. A steel gray sledgehammer was leaning against the wall in the corner. The man walked over to grab it before he was stopped.

"Freeze!" yelled the guard.

The man turned around to face one guard in a nice blue uniform. He must have been new to the force and was eager to be the one to capture the intruder. It would probably lead to a big promotion.

_Unfortunately_, thought the suited man, _today is not his day._

He raised his gun quickly and fired. The bullet hit the officer right between the eyes, killing him instantly.

"Too bad," commented the man, grabbing the sledgehammer as he spoke, "a few more years and you would have been able to block that with your aura."

Putting his pistols away into their knuckle form, he slung the hammer over his shoulder and walked toward the door that led to solitary confinement.

"Even still, their aura training is not extensive enough to stop me."

He slid the card key into the slot on the side of the door. He heard a click and opened the door.

Inside, the room was nearly pitch black except for one light bulb in the middle of the room, lighting up a huge figure sitting against the wall.

"What do you want now?" the figure spoke in a deep growling voice.

The man in the bowler hat smiled, "I'm here to make use of someone who is just rotting away in here."

The figure stood up and stomped over towards the man in the suit. When he came into the light, his features became more noticeable. He was a giant of a man, with a muscular physique that seemed to be popping out of the orange jumpsuit he was wearing. His face was heavily scarred, with brown skin, eyes and hair. On his head were the ears of a grizzly bear, showing his Faunus heritage.

"Who are you?" the Faunus asked, his voice rumbling like an earthquake; if the man in the suit was not on the Faunus' side, he may have been a bit intimidated.

"I am Cole Axenus," the man in the suit answered, "I suppose you are Roano?"

The hulk of a man nodded as his eyes boring into Cole's.

"Well I have a proposition for you," continued Cole, "I am planning on making the world a more equal and fair place for everybody, including the Faunus."

That got Roano's attention as his ears perked up so as to listen to what Cole had to say.

"The thing is, I need you to help me to do it," finished Cole.

Roano stood quietly, mulling over his options.

Finally, he nodded and asked in a deep voice, "What do you want me to do?"

Cole smiled an evil smile. He grabbed the hammer slung over his shoulder, "First, take this and help us get out of this place."

A glint of hunger caught in the Faunus' eyes, as he stared at his old weapon. With one hand he grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder like it was a toy.

"Well let's get started," he said with a murderous grin.

* * *

The woman was pinned down behind a desk as she fired at the guards trying to get in. She had already removed her fake glasses and hat, and undone her ponytail, letting her long hair flow down. Her outfit was in tatters as she fought off the guards here.

_This is getting really old_, thought the woman as she shot down two more officers, _where is Cole?_

She fired again at the guards, until she realized the pistol was out of bullets. She tossed it aside and reached inside her coat to pull out two steel fans. Coming out of cover, she threw her fan at one of the guards, hitting him back against the wall. The fan came back to her, and she closed it up. Charging up the dust canister inside the fan, she opened it up partially, and fired a blast of fire at the guards in cover.

Suddenly, Cole and Roano appeared from the other room. Cole moved quickly and shot at a couple more guards, before taking cover behind a pillar.

"Coralia!" Cole shouted over the gunfire, "Is Olivia here with the ship yet?"

"She is waiting for our signal," Coralia answered.

"Okay Roano," Cole commanded, "let 'em have it."

Roano took his hammer in one hand, and with the other popped up two handles from the hilt of the hammer. The weapon then began to transform until it resembled the form of a mini gun. Turning the gun toward the guards, he opened fire.

The gun whirred and let loose a stream of bullets into the area where the guards were, shattering all forms of cover and putting bullet holes in the wall behind them. When he had finished, nothing was left but broken pieces of desks and bodies on the ground. Coming out from behind cover, Cole and Coralia surveyed the damage.

"Certainly not a stealth mission," commented Coralia.

"We disguised you to learn more about the place," stated Cole, "other than that we did what we needed to do.

"Let's just get out of here," replied Coralia.

They got in the elevator and reached the first floor. When they exited the elevator, they noticed that there was no one there.

"They must have evacuated," observed Roano

"Oh, he speaks _and_ kills," mocked Coralia

To this, Roano glared at her and growled.

"Yikes," uttered Coralia, unimpressed, "new member's got teeth."

"Argue later," intervened Cole, "let's get out of here first."

They opened the front doors and saw a massive amount of police forces. Officers, cars, trucks and helicopters, all pointed directly at the three of them.

"Attention Topaz, you are completely surrounded; give up now or we will shoot."

Roano growled menacingly, but Cole held him back, he nodded to Coralia, who pressed a button on her belt.

Cole motioned to Roano to lower his weapon as he himself put his away in his inner jacket pocket. Roano lowered his hammer and Coralia put away her fans at her belt. They all held up their hands to the sky, as the police slowly approached them.

As if on cue, an airship flew in from over the police building. However, this airship was not there to transport the criminals. It opened fire on the entire police force, blowing up copters and cars alike. All of the officers took cover to get out of the way of the airships bullets. The doors to the airship opened as it continued to fire at the police.

Cole quickly grabbed Coralia's and Roano's arms, "Time to go," he said. And with that, smoke appeared around them as he teleported them straight into the airship.

"Go!" shouted Cole, and the airship took off into the air.

"You know," Coralia commented as she caught her breath, "I will never get used to that teleportation thing you do."

"Sorry for the discomfort," replied Cole sarcastically.

"Hello there!"

Everyone turned to see a girl with olive skin, short brown hair, and hazel eyes. She had small green hoop earrings and wore pink lip gloss. She was of average height for a woman and wore a camo green tank top with black shorts and an ammo belt that she wore diagonally across her waist. She also wore black and green running shoes.

"Roano this is Olivia Lockewood," Cole said formally, "Olivia this is Roano Brooten our new member."

Olivia looked at the huge man before her, "Welcome! We are going to accomplish so much with you on board."

Roano looked at her curiously, "Shouldn't you be piloting the ship?"

Olivia laughed, "Naw, it's on autopilot. No hassle that way."

Olivia walked over to Coralia and started asking her about how the prison break went.

"So what next?" inquired Roano to Cole.

Cole turned to Roano, "Next we head to the Vale branch of the Schnee dust company," he replied, "they have a certain project that I am interested in."

Roano frowned, "Sounds like a normal infiltration mission, what you need me for?"

"People have tried to infiltrate the company before," Cole continued, "however, there are several huntsmen who work for the company, making it very difficult."

"You want me to take care of them," stated Roano.

Cole smiled, "You _are_ quick," he remarked, "I want you to take care of a specific individual named Rigel. I will give you an address once we are prepared to launch an assault."

Cole walked over to a map of Vale that highlighted what they needed, "Soon, the world will fear the name: Team Charcoal."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes: WINTER BREAK! NO MORE FINALS! Which of course means working more on these chapters and posting them every week like I said I would (knowing me that's not gonna happen). Anyway enjoy this chapter! Review if you wish! Have a great day!**

What It Takes

Chapter 5: Understanding and Listening

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Basil's eyes snapped open. He reached his hand over and shut off his alarm clock. It was eight in the morning and he had his first class at nine. He lay there for a minute longer until heading off to the bathroom. He showered, trimmed his beard, brushed his teeth and put on his school uniform. Basil wasn't a fan of formal clothes, so putting on the uniform felt restricting for him. He walked back in the dorm and saw Porphyrios all ready to get to class.

"Hey you have a class at nine too?" asked Basil.

"Yes," replied Porphyrios gruffly and went back to gathering his school supplies.

Realizing that Porphyrios wasn't going to volunteer information, Basil asked further, "What class do you have?"

Porphyrios glanced at him, "Grimm studies, same as you."

"Neat," replied Basil.

There was a silent pause for quite a while.

_Doesn't like to talk much I see, _Basil thought.

"Should we wake the girls up?" he inquired further.

"No," responded Porphyrios, "they don't have class till ten."

"Lucky them," Basil replied with a chuckle, "am I right?"

"Look, are we going to head to breakfast or are you going to continue to stand there and make pointless conversation?"

And with that he walked out the door.

_No conversation is pointless_, thought Basil, a bit hurt from his partner's comment. He followed Porphyrios out of the dorm and to breakfast.

* * *

She did not sleep well.

It was eight in the morning and Namra could not get back to sleep, despite having trouble sleeping the night before. She turned over, closed her eyes and tried to relax into the mattress but to no avail. Resigned to her fate, Namra lay there, thinking about all that had happened yesterday.

She had gotten to Beacon, met a new friend, Basil, got yelled at by Sylvia, became partners with Sylvia, got mad at Sylvia, got yelled at by Sylvia again and now here she was, lying awake and tired on her first day of classes.

She sighed; _this is not how I imagined my experience at Beacon to start_, thought Namra as she got out of bed, _but I guess there's nothing I can do about it now._

She headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day, since she couldn't fall back to sleep.

After changing into her school uniform, Namra headed off to the cafeteria where she was greeted by Wai, who was already in the hallway.

"Hey," greeted Wai in a friendly fashion.

"Hello," Namra returned the greeting in her sleepy voice.

"What are you doing up?" questioned Wai, "I thought you didn't have class till ten."

"I do," responded Namra, "I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep though, so I thought I'd get some breakfast."

"Can I join you?" inquired Wai, "I have a class at 9:30 and was about to get food myself."

"Sure," Namra replied.

They got to the cafeteria, grabbed some eggs and bacon, and sat down at a table. As they ate, they made idle conversation, mostly about their past experiences. Wai talked about going to school with his friends and always getting into trouble, yet still passing class pretty well. Actually most of the conversation was about Wai. Namra didn't like to talk too much herself, so she thought it would be best just to listen.

"So," continued Wai, "what about you?"

"Excuse me?" questioned Namra.

"You," repeated Wai, "what was your childhood like?"

Namra was uncomfortable with this conversation; she didn't like talking about herself and decided to try and switch topics.

"Oh, you know, average childhood, a bit different being blind and all," Namra described vaguely, "So, what do you think classes will be like?"

They continued on about classes until Namra realized something. They had been talking for a while and yet Wai had not mentioned anything about her being blind. Actually, from the way he had been speaking to her, he acted like there was nothing wrong.

"Alright," Namra interrupted what Wai was saying to address this, "what are you doing?"

Wai was put off by the question. He didn't know what it was that Namra meant.

"What am I doing?" inquired Wai.

"We have been talking for some time now and you have not once mentioned anything about me being blind," answered Namra.

Wai took a sip of his coffee before he answered, "Does it matter?"

Now it was Namra's turn to be confused, "What do you mean?"

"What does it matter if you're blind?" Wai responded, "You obviously made it into this school, so you must be able to hold your own."

Wai put down his coffee mug, "Just because somebody else is different doesn't make them any less of a person," Wai continued, "we're all different from each other and we shouldn't judge each other based off of that."

Namra smiled, she was glad that at least one of her teammates understood that she was capable. Her smile faded though as she thought of Sylvia and how she would always chew Namra out.

Wai frowned, noticing Namra's face falter, "What's on your mind?" he asked

Namra looked towards him. Deciding that she could confide in him, she spoke, "It's Sylvia. Ever since the start of initiation she feels I need to be taken care of because I'm blind. I've told her that I can handle myself perfectly fine, but she still insists on babying me. I just wish she would understand how I feel about it."

Namra took a breath as Wai drank a long sip from his coffee. Once he had finished, he placed his cup down on the table. Taking a quick breath he spoke.

"Sylvia is probably not used to this sort of thing," started Wai, "I mean it's not like blind people are common in combat schools. Not to mention she got partnered up with one immediately during initiation, it's a lot to take in for one day. I'm sure if you just give her time she will come around and start to understand."

Namra mulled it over a bit. She understood that Sylvia may not be used to it right away, but that didn't mean she could ignore what Namra wanted.

"Well, I certainly hope you're right," replied Namra.

* * *

Basil and Porphyrios were sitting in their Grimm studies class taught by Professor Port. Well 'taught' was a strong word. It was more about the professor telling a story about his youth as a huntsman than learning about the Grimm. While most students were probably bored out of their skulls, Basil found the man's stories, although clearly embellished, quite interesting. Then again he had always liked listening to stories, whether it was a book or merely a recantation of an experience from another person. Either way he enjoyed them for what they were.

"The moral of the story," spoke Port as he finished, "A true huntsman must be honorable! A true huntsman must be dependable! A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

Basil took in every word that Port had said, knowing now what it would take to be a true huntsman.

"So," he continued, "who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do sir!"

Basil looked down and saw a girl with white hair tied up in a ponytail raising her hand. He always had a good sense of how people were feeling and what they were thinking, and right now Basil noticed from how quickly she raised her hand that this girl seemed angry about something.

To everyone's surprise, Professor Port pulled out a cage with a creature of Grimm inside it for the girl to face. The white-haired girl left and got changed into her combat clothes in order to not be impeded during her fight.

As she approached the cage and took her stance, her teammates near the front of the class started cheering her on.

"Go Weiss!" shouted the blonde girl.

"Fight well!" cheered the black haired girl.

"Yea! Represent team RWBY!" the red cloaked girl yelled enthusiastically.

To this, the girl named Weiss turned toward the red cloaked girl, "Ruby, I'm trying to focus!"

"Oh, sorry," the girl called Ruby apologized, dejectedly.

Basil realized that these girls were the last team that had been announced last night after initiation. He remembered that Ruby had been declared the leader of the team despite being younger than the others. There also seemed to be some dissent between Weiss and Ruby, as Ruby was the only one Weiss had reprimanded for cheering.

"Alright," Port stated, "let the match begin!"

He swung his blunderbuss ax at the lock on the cage, opening it to reveal a Boarbatusk. The Boarbatusk charged at Weiss immediately. Weiss swung at it with her rapier while dodging to the left, avoiding the beast's tusks. The beast turned around to charge again.

"Ha ha, wasn't expecting that were you?" the professor pointed out.

"Hang in there Weiss!" Ruby called out, encouraging Weiss to keep fighting

Weiss and the creature charged at each other. Weiss tried to stab the beast right in the face, but the Boarbatusk caught the blade in between its tusks. Unfortunately, this trapped itself as well as Weiss, and both struggled to free themselves.

"New approach," commented Port, "I like it."

"Come on Weiss," Ruby encouraged, "show it who's boss!"

Basil realized the mistake before it even happened. Weiss, angry at Ruby, turned to glare at her as the beast flung Weiss's weapon behind it and knocked Weiss to the ground.

"Ho ho," Port observed, "now what will you do without your weapon."

Weiss slowly got up as the Boarbatusk charged again. She dove to the right and ran towards her weapon on the other side of the classroom. The Grimm kept going and crashed into one of the lecture desks. Weiss slid and grabbed her weapon from the ground.

"Weiss," Ruby called out again, "go for its belly there's no armor underneath-"

But Weiss was done with Ruby's comments, "Stop telling me what to do!" she yelled.

Ruby hung her head dejectedly, as Weiss stopped the final charge of the Boarbatusk with a light blue snowflake-like symbol, and stabbed its underbelly to finish it off.

"Bravo," cheered Port, "Bravo, it appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training."

"Hmmph," Porphyrios grunted next to Basil, "she needs some anger management."

"I don't think so," disagreed Basil.

"What would you know about it?" challenged Porphyrios.

"Well if you notice, Weiss is a great fighter," Basil analyzed, "and she only yelled at the Ruby girl and no one else. Also did you notice that Ruby seems pretty young to be in this school?"

Porphyrios thought for a moment as he watched Ruby walk out of the class, "I guess she does seem pretty young, must have skipped a year or two."

"Exactly," reasoned Basil, "and if you recall, Ruby was made the leader of her team last night, which Weiss is a part of."

"That is true," Porphyrios agreed.

"So with that in mind," Basil continued, "wouldn't you be upset if you had that much talent, and instead of becoming leader, the headmaster decided to appoint someone younger than you?"

Porphyrios pondered for another moment, "Yea I guess that is a possibility, but how did you figure that out?"

A bit insulted by the question, Basil responded, "I've always been good at reading people and figuring out what they're thinking."

"Hmm," Porphyrios grunted, "interesting," and he got up and walked off to his next class.

Basil sat a moment longer.

_However,_ he thought, _you are mysterious Porph. I see you're quiet and blunt, but I can't figure out why you act that way._

Basil got up from his desk; _I guess I'll just have to get to know you better_; Basil finished his thought as he walked out of the classroom.

* * *

Namra was sitting next to her partner Sylvia in Oobleck's history class, listening to the caffeine fueled professor talk about the credentials of the course and what they would be learning. Namra was only half listening as she was trying to figure out a way to get Sylvia to understand that she could take care of herself without needing Sylvia to baby her.

_Wai understands my situation completely_, Namra thought, _so why can't Sylvia understand?_

Continuing her train of thought, Namra lost track of time until she felt Sylvia's hand on her shoulder.

"Class is over," Sylvia said, "time to go."

Normally this would have seemed like a nice gesture considering she had been spacing out, but not many people had left yet meaning class only just got dismissed. So Namra saw it as just another example of Sylvia thinking Namra was hindered because of her blindness and couldn't figure things out on her own.

Deciding to deal with it later, Namra walked out of class, still unsure as to what she should do about Sylvia.

_Should I talk to her?_ thought Namra as she walked down the hallway. She shook her head; she didn't like confronting people if she could avoid it.

_Besides_, Namra continued, _she would probably just yell at me again. But then what can I do? Well maybe-_

_WHUMP!_

Not looking where she was going, she had accidently bumped into someone.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, embarrassed by her clumsiness.

"Watch where you're going!" a boy's voice shouted angrily

She could tell that the boy was taller than her, and much more heavily built.

"Well what do you have to say for yourself?" yelled the boy, scathing eyes glaring at Namra.

"I said I was sorry," Namra said, trying to get out of this situation.

"Well sorry isn't good enough," he stated, "I'm gonna have to teach you a thing or two."

"Leave her alone."

Sylvia had moved in front of Namra, shielding her from him.

"Get out of my way girl," he commanded, but Sylvia didn't move.

The boy moved quickly and shoved Sylvia out of the way and onto the ground. Sylvia tried to get up off the ground but struggled, considering she wasn't expecting the blow. The muscular boy walked over to her to continue his bullying.

Seeing her partner on the ground like that infuriated Namra, "Stop it!" she shouted.

He turned toward Namra, "What are you gonna do about it?" he asked, "you can't even see what's in front of you."

"I can certainly do more than you, **troll**," replied Namra

Angered at the comment, he ran at her, aiming to push her to the ground as well. However, Namra was expecting this and bent down and elbowed him in the stomach. Stunned, the boy was unable to do anything as Namra lifted him and threw him to the ground.

Feeling humiliated, he stood up immediately and charged at Namra, fists raised. Namra started to take a stance, when Sylvia moved in front of her to take the blow. Namra was taken aback, surprised that Sylvia would defend her to this extent.

The boy was about to strike, when Re appeared, almost out of nowhere, and grabbed his arm, bending it behind his back.

"You are going to back off, or I will break your arm," threatened Re.

Before the boy could respond to Re's threat, Oobleck came out of his classroom to respond to the commotion.

"Cardin! Re! Break it up!" he commanded in a stern voice that seemed out of character for the caffeinated professor.

Re let go of Cardin's arm and backed away.

"Fighting outside of combat class or sparring is strictly prohibited at Beacon," stated Oobleck, the sternness still in his voice, "but because it is the first day of classes I will let you two off with a warning. If I ever see you two fighting again, I will send you both to Ozpin's office, is that clear."

Cardin and Re both nodded in agreement. Satisfied, Oobleck went back to his classroom and all of the students went on their way.

As they left the hallway, Namra was contemplating what had just happened. She knew that Sylvia always tried to help out because she felt Namra couldn't take care of herself, which Namra disagreed with. However, she never thought that Sylvia would go as far as to take hits for her. Unless, Sylvia truly was just looking out for her, but that couldn't be it, could it?

Namra shook her head, _I'll have to talk to her by the end of the day and sort this all out_, she decided. And with that she continued to walk to her next class.

* * *

The bell rang as the last class of the day ended for the school. Basil and his teammates all agreed to meet for dinner after classes had ended. However, Basil's class had taken more time than was originally anticipated, making him late.

_I hope they didn't start without me_, thought Basil as he went into the cafeteria.

Sure enough they were all waiting for him near the food line.

"You're late," remarked Porphyrios in a rough tone.

"Aw give him a break Porph," defended Celestia, "His class probably got out late."

She turned toward Basil, looking for confirmation.

"Yea," replied Basil looking away from Celestia and scratching his head, "the class lasted longer than expected."

Celestia looked a bit dejected at the fact that he had looked away from her. Seeing this, Aurelia scowled at Basil, grabbed Celestia's arm and walked to the food line. Basil winced, he felt bad about what he did, but he didn't quite trust Faunus too much, what with the whole White Fang group and their aggressive actions. He was fine with Porphyrios, considering they had fought side by side for a while.

"Whatever," grumbled Porphyrios and he walked to the food line. Basil followed them as they went to get their food.

_I should put aside my feelings for now,_ pondered Basil, _I won't make our first dinner together a bad one._

Grabbing his food, Basil walked over to where the others were and sat down next to Porphyrios, across from the girls.

The dinner proceeded without incident. Basil tried not to act too awkward around Celestia, much to the appreciation of Aurelia, at least he hoped. They talked about classes and teachers and how they all thought the year would go. Jokes were exchanged by everyone, a few from himself, and Celestia made a few puns, to everyone's horror. Aurelia even did a pretty good impression of professor Port that left everyone in fits of side-burning, tear-inducing laughter. Everyone, that is, except Porphyrios. Basil just couldn't figure out why he was so stone faced all the time. He rarely spoke, and when he did it was about small talk and schedules. All Basil knew about him was that he was strong and intimidating to most people. Anything else was just a collection of grunts and 'hmmms'. Basil wanted to get Porphyrios to open up, but he was not budging.

_Maybe that's just who he is,_ suggested Basil, _maybe he is just silent and reserved._

Basil shook the idea out of his head, _no there's something more to him than just that._

"Hey."

Basil looked up and saw Celestia stood up in front of him.

"Porph and Aurelia went back to the dorm, you coming?"

"Oh right umm…" the awkwardness was reaching into his voice again and he rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his hair.

Noticing his awkwardness, Celestia's face faltered, "Well, I'm heading back, so come when you're ready." And with that she had left.

_Great job_, Basil said to himself, _now she knows you're uncomfortable around her._

He sighed. _No helping it now_, he thought and made his way back to the dorm, _great way to start a year_, he thought sarcastically.

* * *

It was amazing to watch. Two people who had never met before were treating each other like old friends. Wai and Re were like two peas in a pod, even though they seemed like opposites. Re would propose some scenario of epic proportions and then Wai would go through the ways that it could be approached and achieved. They both started laughing when they discussed the idea of using watermelon projectiles and a porcupine to fight off a White Fang attack. After recovering from their laughter they discussed classes with as much joy as humanly possible.

Namra watched them, occasionally contributing to the conversation where needed, and wondered why her and Sylvia weren't like that.

She looked toward where Sylvia was and noticed her absentmindedly playing with her mashed potatoes, which were hardly eaten. Concerned, Namra reached over and touched Sylvia's shoulder.

"Hey, you ok?" Namra asked softly.

Sylvia snapped out of her train of thought, "Huh?" she asked.

"I asked if you were okay," Namra repeated worryingly.

"Of course I'm okay," replied Sylvia curtly, "I'm just…not very hungry right now obviously."

Namra didn't believe her for a second. It didn't take eyes to tell that Sylvia was not at all fine, and Namra was pretty sure she knew why.

_I better resolve this situation quickly_, thought Namra nervously; _I'll talk to her after dinner_.

Turning back towards the boys, she continued to converse with them, anxious about the prospect of talking to Sylvia later.

* * *

About 20 minutes later, they had all finished eating and were heading back up to the dorm.

_It's now or never_, Namra decided.

"Sylvia," Namra called out.

Sylvia turned toward Namra.

"What?" asked Sylvia, she sounded annoyed and tired from her first day of classes.

_Great start_, thought Namra. "Can we take a walk out around the courtyard?" she asked.

Sylvia look a bit annoyed and confused at the prospect of walking around the courtyard, "I don't think so Namra," replied Sylvia, "I need to look over notes tonight and get a good night sleep for tomorrow's classes."

"I promise it won't take long," Namra assured, "I just want to talk a bit."

Sylvia was a bit curious, Namra had rarely talked during dinner and at other times, yet now she was asking to talk to her. Sylvia sighed, figuring that talking to her would probably be the best idea. Sylvia was the leader after all.

"Fine," Sylvia conceded, "as long as we make it fast."

They walked out of the school doors and into the courtyard. The chilled night breeze blew through Namra's hair, calming her. She had always liked the night, calm and peaceful most of the time, and yet still filled with excitement. But it was the calm nights she liked the best, because she could just relax from the stress of the day.

They walked over to the fountain in the courtyard and Namra sat down on the edge, motioning for Sylvia to sit down as well.

"Alright," Sylvia started, sitting next to Namra, "Let's get this over with; what do you want to talk about?"

Put on the spot, Namra hesitated, wondering how to start the conversation.

"Well, it's about this." Namra moved her hands in front of her blindfold, implicating her blindness.

"Okay," Sylvia replied, understanding, "what about it."

Namra sighed. _Sylvia still doesn't even realize what she is doing wrong._

"Look, I understand what you are trying to do," Namra began, "you are looking out for me and trying to help, but you need to understand that even though I'm blind, I'm not handicapped. I can take care of myself perfectly fine."

"Yes I've seen what you can do," responded Sylvia standing up, "but you have to understand that as the leader of the team it is my duty to protect my teammates."

She took a breath and then continued, "Whether it's Grimm or bullies, I have to take care of and defend my team."

"Yes that's true," Namra spoke, "but there is a difference between protecting and babying."

Sylvia was about to retort, but Namra stopped her by standing up, "Look, as I said, I understand your reasoning and I appreciate your help, in fact sometimes I welcome it. But the amount of 'protecting' that you've been doing for me makes me feel like you believe I'm not capable."

Namra took a breath of the night air before she spoke again, "And I want you to know that I am capable."

Sylvia hesitated for a moment.

"Yes, you are capable," she said softly, "but because you're blind you need to be protected more than the others."

Namra sighed. As much as she didn't want to tell her, she felt at this point she would have to.

"Sylvia, I'm not as blind as you think I am."

Sylvia seemed confused, "What do you mean? You can't see with your eyes right?"

"Yes that is true," confirmed Namra, "but I can still see you sitting there."

Sylvia seemed further confused as Namra continued.

"My semblance allows me to see using the energy around me. The trees, the people, even the bats around here that you can't usually see," Namra explained calmly, "using this allows me to see clearly than most people ordinarily see."

"Well I guess that explains a lot," Sylvia stated, "but I don't understand, why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

Namra hesitated. _Should I tell her? Well I guess I can tell her the vague picture._

"I've had people use their knowledge of my semblance against me," Namra voiced quietly, "I was afraid to trust someone with that information again."

Namra turned her head back toward Sylvia, "I didn't tell you because I was afraid of trusting you."

Sylvia was taken aback. She had never thought that Namra would be hurt by Sylvia over protecting her, yet here she was, telling her things that she normally wouldn't tell anyone. She felt flattered yet guilty over this prospect.

"Ok, fine" Sylvia answered, "I didn't know that you felt so strong about this. So I will stop being overprotective and 'babying' you."

Namra sighed in relief, "Thank you, I'm glad you understand."

Sylvia smiled a rare smile, "I just wish you had told me earlier," She replied, "I want you to know that you can trust me. I am your partner after all."

Namra smiled back, "I understand completely. I'm sorry I didn't trust you before."

Sylvia walked over and patted her on the shoulder comfortingly. They stood there for a few seconds, letting their words sink in, until a cold breeze came by, bringing them back to reality. Sylvia shivered.

"Can we go in now?" Sylvia asked removing her hand, "It's freezing out here."

Namra laughed, "Yea, let's go back in."

The two of them walked back to the school, feeling like they had become closer than they were before.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author Notes: So much for posting faster because of break :(. Oh well here's chapter 6 hope you enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 6: Closed Off

Their weapons clashed together, the sound of metal on metal echoing around the sparring room. Porphyrios swung his sickle at his opponent's head, stepping forward to try and force his opponent into submission. His plan partially worked: his opponent moved backward, but also moved sideways, causing Porphyrios to continue moving forward with no target in front of him. He turned sideways to see Basil's trident stabbing towards him. Porphyrios rolled forward quickly to avoid the attack and to keep his momentum.

_Smart_, thought Porphyrios as he got up from his roll.

Basil started charging forward, now the attacker in the match. Porphyrios readied himself for a stab, but was surprised as he saw Basil spin around and swing his trident at Porphyrios. Clumsily, Porphyrios moved and blocked the blow to his right. Staggering slightly, he was unprepared for the kick to his left, sending him tumbling. Getting up, he saw Basil charging again at him.

_He's fast, I'll give him that_, Porphyrios conceded.

Once again Basil swung his trident at Porphyrios, but he was prepared. He blocked the blow cleanly with one sickle and swung his other straight at Basil. However, somehow Basil was able to corkscrew away from the attack and retreat a few feet away from him, a glowing green aura surrounding him.

_Got you now_, Porphyrios thought as he charged at Basil, sickles ready.

Basil, with almost no time to react, spun his trident to block the two sickles from Porphyrios. As he continued to attack with his sickles, Basil constantly kept blocking attack after attack, spinning and swinging his trident this way and that.

Finally, Basil tried to stab at Porphyrios' midriff, but Porphyrios blocked with his sickle, causing Basil to spin around again. Porphyrios waited for Basil to turn back around, and hooked his sickle around Basil's neck.

"I win," he declared a smile on his face.

"Have you?" asked Basil.

Porphyrios suddenly became aware of something lightly digging into his body. He looked down and saw Basil's trident pointed straight at his stomach.

"Hmmm," grunted Porphyrios lowering his weapon, "decent enough."

He walked over to the edge of the arena, grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off his brow.

_He is certainly getting better_, pondered Porphyrios as he drank from his water bottle, _no sense in letting him get a big head though, besides I was going easy on him._

Basil walked over to where Porphyrios was, and chugged his water bottle, sprinkling some into his hair to cool off. Basil put his jacket back on, ready to continue on with the day.

"So," Basil began, "what are your plans for the rest of today?"

Porphyrios sighed. For whatever reason Basil was always trying to socialize and hang out with him and Porphyrios couldn't figure out why.

"I was probably going to go to the library and study," replied Porphyrios.

He was really going to go and read his book in the library, but he knew that if he brought up studying Basil would back off and leave him to his own devices. He had been doing this for the past week, considering Basil's frequently wanting to hang out with and get to know him. Unfortunately, it seemed like it wasn't going to work as well this time.

"Again?" Basil asked, appalled, "you're going to work yourself to death."

"Well, we have an exam next week and I want to be prepared for it," Porphyrios responded bluntly, "Port doesn't exactly teach us much in his class."

"Yea but its Saturday," argued Basil, "you're supposed to relax on Saturday. Besides I'm sure you're already plenty ready for the exam."

"You can never be too prepared," declared Porphyrios as he walked out of the sparring room with Basil at his heels.

"Fine, be boring! I'm gonna get some lunch and enjoy myself today," and with that Basil was off.

_Good riddance_, thought Porphyrios as he headed for the library, _maybe he'll get it through his head that I don't want to hang out with him._

Porphyrios sighed. _He's always too nosy, trying to get me to open up with all of his questions_, mused Porphyrios, _actually I think I will get some studying done today. Might as well be even more prepared than before._

And with that, Porphyrios was off to the library to study for the upcoming exams.

* * *

"I just don't get him."

Basil was in the cafeteria eating lunch with Namra as they had planned beforehand. They hadn't seen each other in a while, so the two of them decided having lunch together would be a good idea.

Basil was eating a cheeseburger with fries, while Namra quietly sipped at her tomato soup. They had been talking about how school was going for the past week and how they were both getting along with their teammates. Other than the issue between Namra and Sylvia on the first day, she had had virtually no problems with any of her teammates, except the occasional dispute over the shower. Basil however, had several complications with his team. Aurelia seemed to dislike him a lot, probably due to the fact that he acted distant towards Celestia. Basil and Celestia had gotten along okay despite the occasional awkward moments in between them, which was his fault. And then there was Porphyrios.

"I mean he is completely antisocial to the point where some days he doesn't say anything," Basil complained, "All he does is sleep, eat, study and spar."

Namra swallowed her soup, "Well, maybe that is just how he is. He might be just the strong silent type."

"I've thought of that," replied Basil, "But my instinct tells me there is something more to it than that. There has to be, otherwise he wouldn't be ignoring me when I try to hang out with him."

"Maybe he feels uncomfortable around you," reasoned Namra trying to help her friend, "either that or he doesn't like getting close to people."

Basil sighed, "I certainly hope neither is the case. I know I hate being alone and I can't imagine anybody wanting to be alone the entire time."

Basil shook his head, "No, nobody wants that. He's just being stubborn about this whole thing."

Basil put a fry in his mouth and chewed it slowly. He swallowed and then said, "I got to get him to open up, but I can't get a chance to try."

Namra sipped at her soup again and then had an idea: "What if instead of trying to get together with just him, you make it a group outing," Namra spoke enthusiastically, "Then he'd have to join in. Make it a teambuilding activity."

Basil looked at Namra and smiled, "That's a great idea Namra!" he cried, "we can go to get more supplies, because we are running low and just turn it into a group outing, cause why not!?"

Namra smiled, "Sounds like a good plan."

Basil grinned wider, "Thanks a lot Namra, you're a good friend."

Namra shrugged, "I try."

They continued to talk throughout the rest of their lunch. When they finished, they both returned to their respective dorm rooms, Basil ready to implement his plan for today.

* * *

Porphyrios sat in the library, pouring over his textbook about the Grimm. He wanted to be as prepared as possible for the exam next week.

_I'm not gonna let my grade drop just because Port is a bad teacher_, decided Porphyrios as he reviewed the weakness of the Grimm for the third time that day.

He looked at the clock. It was 2:30 in the afternoon. He had been studying since he had left Basil at 11:45 in the morning.

_Maybe I should take a break and read a book_, he thought knowing that pacing oneself was always a good idea when studying.

At the exact moment, Porphyrios glanced at the door and saw the rest of his team heading into the library.

_Wonderful_, thought Porphyrios sarcastically, _can I not get some peace on quiet on a Saturday?_

His three teammates walked over to his table with wide smiles.

"Hey Porph!" Aurelia said cheerfully.

"I told you that's not my name," grunted Porphyrios.

"Well I like Porph better," replied Aurelia with a smirk.

Porphyrios was about to argue when Basil cut him off.

"Listen, we were planning on going to downtown Vale for a while," Basil began, "We need more munitions anyway so we thought we would make it a team adventure. We could grab some coffee on the way, shop around and just hang out for the day."

Porphyrios scowled. He knew where this was going, but he still wanted to see if he could get out of it.

"Well you three have fun and I'll stay here actually doing something productive," declared Porphyrios in a blunt voice, "also don't forget my ammo, I'm running low too."

Basil looked back at Aurelia and Celestia, both of them were scowling at Porphyrios in anger.

"I don't think you understand the point of this being a team outing," Basil stated, "a team outing means the entire team participates, which includes you."

"Well I'd prefer to not do something as pointless as going around downtown Vale doing whatever catches our fancy," Porphyrios grunted.

"Fine," stated Aurelia, "then we won't get your ammunition."

Porphyrios glared at Aurelia and was met with a glare of her own, showing not intimidation, but determination.

"Fine," Porphyrios mumbled conceding to his team, "coffee would be good for me anyway."

"Good," affirmed Basil, "Let's go!"

* * *

So far the outing was going smoothly. It was a bit chilly, but not enough to not enjoy the outside. Aside from some small talk from Basil, Porphyrios was able to avoid most of the conversation. They had already gotten the munitions that they needed and were about to go grab a drink from a local coffee shop. Porphyrios himself ordered his coffee black like he always did. Basil took his with two creams and two spoonfuls of sugar, much to Porphyrios' distaste. Celestia was no better, taking hers with one cream and two sugars. Aurelia was the only one who shared Porphyrios' taste in coffee as she also ordered it black.

_How can they stand drinking something so sweet?_ Porphyrios questioned, _it's disgusting_.

They continued walking, sipping on their coffees, until Celestia and Aurelia saw a store that they wanted to check out. Not interested in the shop, Basil and Porphyrios voted to stay outside while the girls went inside. Basil and Porphyrios both sat on a bench on the opposite side of the store, waiting for the girls to be finished.

For a few minutes there was silence as they both drank their coffee, enjoying the warmth it gave them on this chilly day. Almost inevitably, Basil started trying to make conversation.

"So," Basil began, "pretty nice weather out today."

"Mmmm," Porphyrios grunted in reply.

"Definitely better than Vale usually is around this time of year."

"I guess."

"Did you grow up in Vale?" asked Basil.

"Moved here," Porphyrios said, almost regretting sharing even that little information.

"Cool," replied Basil, "I grew up here. It's certainly nice in the city but it's also quite noisy sometimes. So do you have family back home or did they move here with you? Also where did you move from?"

"Why do you care?" asked Porphyrios in an angry tone.

Basil looked taken aback. Porphyrios was annoyed by the line of questions and wanted to finally ask why Basil cared so much about his life.

"I'm sorry?" Basil said in a questioning tone.

"Why do you care so much about knowing about my life?" inquired Porphyrios, eyes still angry, "you keep trying to get to know me, but why do you do that?"

Basil looked puzzled, confused as to why Porphyrios was asking him that. Basil faced his coffee, took a drink from it and then replied to Porphyrios.

"Well, I feel that getting to know somebody and caring about how they are and what they're doing helps form a bond between people," he said taking another sip, "and that bond helps to create structure in a team, allowing for more unity and greater communication."

Once again Basil drank from his cup of coffee, having said his piece. Porphyrios, however, thought something completely different.

"Bonds are broken though," he retorted.

Basil turned toward Porphyrios, listening to what he said.

"Very easily bonds are broken, and then what are you left with?" snapped Porphyrios.

"Well when bonds are broken," Basil replied, "you still have fond memories from the experience to look back on."

"Memories are merely thoughts of regret," Porphyrios chuckled, "just thoughts of hope that things will return to the way they were."

He drank the rest of his coffee and then spoke.

"People are either there to be friends or to deceive you. And I would rather just assume everyone is here to deceive me than to learn it the hard way."

He then walked away from the bench and threw his coffee away. Before he left he turned back to Basil.

"I'm the leader of this team," he stated, "which means I care for my teammates enough to get through this school. But nothing and nobody else is worth caring about. You can only trust yourself in this world, no one else."

And with that, Porphyrios walked back toward Beacon, knowing he wouldn't be followed this time.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author Notes: Hi, sorry that this is so late but a lot of things have been going on recently, but hopefully I'm back on schedule. Also due to recent events, I would like to dedicate this entire story to Monty Oum, consideringhe is the one who inspired me to start writing. Thank you for taking time to read my stories, I really appreciate it. -TheBigWaloo**

What It Takes

Chapter 7: Nightmares

Wai was running; running through a dark forest in the middle of the night. Behind him was a hooded figure chasing him, but it wasn't running. It seemed to be floating after him, intent on capturing him. Wai tried to run faster, but to no avail; the figure was almost upon him. He decided that he was going to fight instead. Activating the grenade launchers on his gauntlets, Wai fired at the figure. It vanished in the explosion. Turning around, Wai saw the hooded figure again. Extending his gauntlets' blades, Wai swung at the figure. Once again, the figure vanished and reappeared behind him. Expecting it this time, Wai stabbed behind him. The color red consumed his vision as he made contact with his target and fear entered his heart.

A pillow hit him straight in the face. Wai woke up suddenly, confused as to what had happened.

"Hey you're awake now!"

Wai looked around, there was Re perched atop his bed staring straight at him. He assumed that it was Re who had thrown the pillow at him, waking him up.

"Of course I am," replied Wai wiping a tear from his eye, "you threw a pillow at me."

Re chuckled nervously, "Well everyone else is awake, so I thought you should be awake too."

"So you whipped a pillow at me?"

"Oh come on, I didn't throw it that hard."

Wai gave Re a look of disbelief to which Re replied with a sheepish grin. Wai turned and looked at the clock. It was seven o'clock in the morning.

"It's Saturday," complained Wai, "why are we up so early?"

"Well, the girls left early to go train in the sparring room," stated Re, "and I need your help with something."

Wai looked back to Re, intrigued by the blond's statement.

Wai pushed his bangs out of his eyes and asked, "What do you need help with?"

Re grinned widely, excited that his friend was going to help with his plan.

"Well, recently I received my marble collection from back home," Re started to which Wai rolled his eyes.

Seeing this action, Re frowned, "Don't roll your eyes at me, this is a very special marble collection," Re continued, "I used to use them all the time in my many pranks back at Signal."

Now Wai was very interested. During their week here at Beacon, they had learned that both of them had been trouble makers back at their old schools and playing pranks on other students was one of their favorite things.

"I'm listening," decided Wai.

"So, I heard that team Cardinal has recently been bullying the Faunus and other people who they deem 'weak'."

Re smiled maliciously, "I thought we would teach Cardin and the rest a lesson about respect."

Wai smirked at his partner. It was well known that Cardin and his team were the bullies of the first year class, and Wai wanted nothing more than to get back at them any way he could.

"When do we start?" asked Wai

Re smiled again, "Okay, here's what we are gonna do."

* * *

Wai was outside of team Cardinal's dorm. The plan was to break into their dorm and set off a make shift flash bang in their room. In the resulting confusion, they would hopefully make their way out the open door and into the hallway. Then, Re would throw his bucket of marbles out into the hallway, to make it very hard for team Cardinal to regain their composure and their footing. Wai was already grinning in anticipation of the prank they were about to pull.

_Alright_, thought Wai, _almost got the door open._

"Good morning Wai."

Wai's heart stopped. Already knowing who was behind him, Wai turned around slowly and came face to face with Glynda Goodwitch.

"Hello," muttered Wai, knowing that he was defeated.

"Now what are you doing in front of team Cardinal's dorm this early in the morning?"

"Helping them wake up?" Wai replied, pressing his luck.

"Well, I'm sure they can wake up on their own," concluded Glynda, "In the meantime, I think you are due for a meeting with Professor Ozpin."

Wai hung his head as he followed Glynda to his fate.

They walked down numerous hallways until they reached their destination. Glynda opened the door and Wai entered. Inside was a desk, two chairs and one light above the table. There was a window on the opposite side of the door, allowing the morning light to come into the room, making it look slightly less like an interrogation room.

"Professor Ozpin will be with you shortly," Glynda said curtly and shut the door.

Wai sat down in the chair opposite of him, facing away from the window. He had assumed that Re had also been caught and expected him to be in the same room, but he was not there. Wai was infuriated by this.

_He just left me to get caught,_ reflected Wai, _some friend he is. Friends are supposed to stick together._

Wai thought back to his years at Sanctum and the friends he had back then. They were all great friends, who trusted each other with their lives. They would always stick together.

_Friends always stick together…_

As Wai pondered his own words, Ozpin entered the room, a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Good morning Wai," he said calmly.

Wai looked up at Ozpin, "Good morning sir," he said very politely.

Ozpin sat down in the only remaining chair, placing his mug on the table and his cane against the table.

"Would you like a drink?" Ozpin asked.

Wai was surprised by the question, "S-sorry?" he stuttered, put off by the question.

"I want to know if you would like a drink," Ozpin repeated, "coffee? tea? Maybe just some orange juice?"

"Ummm, some coffee would be nice," requested Wai tentatively.

Ozpin took out his scroll and sent a message to have some coffee to be sent to the room. A few minutes later coffee was delivered and given to Wai. He sipped at the coffee and let its warmth course through his body. He loved coffee; it both relaxed him and gave him energy for the day. Not only that but it also cleared his head, allowing him to think more efficiently. Having taken several drinks of coffee, he remembered why he was here in the first place. The calm was replaced with frustration as he recalled how Re had just abandoned him to his fate, not willing to accept some of the responsibility. However, he also noticed that Ozpin hadn't said anything to him since the whole coffee question.

_Is he waiting for me to finish my coffee,_ contemplated Wai, _or does he want me to tell him what happened?_

Before Wai could ask, they were interrupted when someone came bursting through the door.

"I have coffee for Professor Ozpin!" cried Re triumphantly, as if it was the greatest thing in the world.

He looked at Ozpin and then to Wai, and noticed they both already had coffees his face faultered.

"Hmmm," pondered Ozpin, "how peculiar. I never asked for more coffee. Not to mention I'm pretty sure I don't ask students to get it for me."

Re looked at the ground sheepishly, like he had been caught doing something.

_What is he so upset about?_ pondered Wai angrily, _he didn't get caught in the middle of the prank._

Ozpin answered the unasked question immediately, "So my thought here is that perhaps you were here to bail Mr. Siril here out of trouble."

Re looked at Ozpin and smirked, "Yeah, kinda was the plan," he said slightly chuckling.

"But why," continued Ozpin, "would you be compelled to do that?"

Re looked sheepish again, "Sir," he said guiltily, "I was also part of the prank. In fact I'm the one who initiated it. If he's gonna be punished I should be punished too."

"I see," spoke Ozpin.

He took a sip from his coffee before he continued, "Have a seat next to Wai. There should be a chair in the corner there."

Re grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and sat down next to Wai, giving him a sad smile. Wai was shocked by what had happened. The whole time he had been angry at Re for abandoning him during the plan when in fact he was planning to bail Wai out the whole time. He had even gone as far as admitting that he was the one who came up with the plan.

Wai drank more of his coffee as he waited for Ozpin to speak.

"I know it's natural to want to have fun here at Beacon," he said his tone calm and collected, "And I also know that fun can be mischievous at times."

He looked at both of them before he spoke again, "I also understand that sometimes people are close-minded and discriminatory toward people, and that good people do bad things to bring justice. While this is not necessarily where you stand right now, I just want to make sure you don't go down that path."

Ozpin leaned in, very serious all of a sudden, "I'm not going to punish you for what happened here, but next time, I will have to take some action."

With that he stood up, picking up his mug and his cane, "If you still feel the need to get back at someone though, please save it for combat practice."

And with that, Ozpin walked out of the room. A few seconds passed and the two boys left as well.

On their way back to the dorm, Wai was still wondering about something.

"You actually came back to bail me out?" questioned Wai.

Re smiled; "Of course!" he said with enthusiasm, "did you really think I would leave you to be punished?"

"Well," Wai began, "for a little bit I did."

Wai felt stupid saying it right now after what happened, but he figured it was best to tell him the truth.

_ Friends don't lie to each other…_

"Really?"

Re's voice brought Wai back to reality.

"We are friends Wai," Re spoke with concern in his voice, "you should know to trust me. Friends trust each other."

_Friends trust each other…_

Wai looked at Re and smiled.

"You're right Re. I don't know why I ever thought otherwise," Wai stated sincerely.

Re smiled back, "Good, now let's get some breakfast, I'm starving."

Wai nodded in agreement, but there was still one more thing on his mind.

"Hey Re."

"Yeah?"

"What was your plan to bail me out of there?"

Re grinned awkwardly, "Honestly, I didn't know how to. I just went for it, figuring I would think of something on the way to follow through with it."

Wai laughed out loud.

"Well I guess it's the thought that counts," he chuckled.

"Yep," agreed Re also laughing, "But hey now we know we can go all out against him in sparring class on Tuesday."

"That's true," declared Wai, "whoever he faces needs to make sure he knows we won't tolerate any of his bullying and discrimination."

Re nodded in agreement and together they headed toward the cafeteria for breakfast.

_Friends trust each other…_

Once again the nightmare last night entered Wai's thoughts.

_I guess that memory isn't going away anytime soon,_ thought Wai as he followed Re.

_Friends stick together…_

Wai only hoped that the rest of his friends would do the same as he would. After all, they were all Wai had left.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes: Hey guys! I actually posted the next chapter within the week! (kind of) This chapter is gonna be much more mellow than the others have been, but don't worry it's gonna get intense soon. Enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 8: Reflection

The library was quiet. The rustle of pages was all that could be heard aside from quiet conversations from the other students. Everyone was studying and preparing for upcoming exams, now that school had finally gotten into full swing for each class. The whispers of conversation were mostly questions, checking to see if they were correct in their answer or to help understand a concept.

Celestia sat a table with Aurelia, their books opened on the table, and both were vigorously taking notes. Their history exam was only three days away and they wanted to make sure that they were prepared for it. Celestia was more adamant about this though, being the more studious of the two. Ever since they had known each other, Celestia had always spent most of her time working or studying for school, wanting to do as well as she possibly could. It had always been her dream to become a huntress and protect those who couldn't fight for themselves.

However, right now, Celestia wasn't too focused on her work. Instead she was drawing in her notebook, a usual hobby for her when she was bored. While drawing, she was lost in her own thoughts, thoughts of the past, the future, but mostly she thought about everything that had happened since she arrived at Beacon. For the past month, she had become partners with her best friend, had become part of a team and had met many great friends. They had been introduced to the members of Team Sunrise over the month, considering Basil knew Namra pretty well. Re was very much the goofy guy who always tried to make everyone laugh. Namra was quiet usually, but would participate in conversation every now and then and was friendly about it. Wai was also quiet but not as much as Namra. He was friendly and non-judgmental, which Celestia appreciated due to her Faunus heritage. Sylvia was hot headed and serious most of the time, but when she was around her brother Re, she seemed livelier and less likely to pick a fight. Celestia didn't mind Sylvia, considering she was the leader of Team Sunrise she had to be serious. Plus she was better with Re around, and that's usually when she saw Sylvia anyway. Aurelia, on the other hand, did not like Sylvia at all. She would always act very protective over Celestia whenever Sylvia was around.

Celestia sighed. _She must still be upset over the time when Sylvia hit my ears. It was an accident and Aurelia needs to get over I; she can't be so over-protective all the time._

Her thoughts then drifted to her own team's situation. She and Aurelia were always doing fine, even though Celestia would get annoyed when Aurelia was over protective of her. Porphyrios was a pretty good leader all things considered. He may be a bit rough around the edges, but Celestia could see that he cared for his team a great deal. He always made sure they were well performed in combat, sparring with everyone to hone their skills as well as his. He and Aurelia were getting along fine, although sometimes his blunt attitude would get on Aurelia's nerves, and cause a bit of tension that was alleviated quickly. Basil and Porphyrios were getting along better ever since they had gone out for coffee two weeks back. Celestia had no idea what had happened, but it seemed like they had come to an understanding of some kind while she and Aurelia were in one of the stores. The only people who seemed to not be getting along with each other were her and Basil.

Celestia put down her pencil and looked at her rough sketch of a boy with messy hair and a smile on his face. She didn't understand why they were not getting along. Well, that wasn't true, they were getting along fine. It was just awkward. Every time they would talk, there would be a point where Basil looked away and stopped talking to her. She knew that her being a Faunus would always cause people to be uncomfortable, but Basil would talk to Porphyrios just fine and he was a Faunus.

_Maybe he just doesn't like me, _thought Celestia, looking at the ceiling.

She immediately shook that thought away, _No he just still needs time to adjust_.

Aurelia had stopped taking notes and looked over at Celestia.

"Working hard I see," Aurelia pointed out.

Celestia rolled her eyes, "Yes, the ceiling is very important to my studies," she said sarcastically.

Aurelia laughed, "So I see," she replied.

Aurelia's eyes wandered over to Celestia's drawing.

"Is he important to your studying as well?" Aurelia asked.

Celestia looked down and saw what Aurelia was looking at. "No he's just from my thoughts," Celestia replied with a sigh.

Aurelia nodded. "Are you still wondering why Basil acts weird around you?"

"Yea I have been," admitted Celestia, "I just don't understand what I did for him to act so awkward around me."

"You haven't done anything wrong," reassured Aurelia in a calming voice, "some people just can't see past the ears."

Celestia heard a hint of anger in Aurelia's voice as she mentioned that last part. Celestia didn't think Basil was discriminatory against Faunus in any way, shape or form; he just didn't seem like the type.

However, Celestia knew Aurelia wouldn't agree with what she thought. So, instead of arguing with her, Celestia changed the topic:

"So, what's everyone else up to," inquired Celestia, "maybe when we're done here we can all hang out together?"

Aurelia thought for a bit, trying to remember what everyone had said when she had asked that morning.

"Well," she began, "Basil and Porph said they were going to spar with Wai and Re, and Namra and Sylvia are out on the town to resupply. So the only two who might be available are Basil and Porph, considering Team Sunrise have a group combat exam tomorrow and will probably be sparring for the rest of the night."

"That's disappointing," Celestia replied, "I was looking forward to a group game night or something tonight."

"Well right now it's 5:30. We'll stop at 6, grab a bite to eat, and then head back to the dorm for a game of cards or something."

Celestia smiled. "That sounds like a good idea."

They continued to study, until the appointed time, and then went to grab dinner. They discussed how they thought the exam was going to go, and wondered if the boys had started studying yet. Aurelia joked about how Porph probably studied while he sparred. Celestia laughed, as she pictured him with a book in one hand and a sickle in the other. Finishing up their food, they decided to go for a quick walk around the courtyard before heading back to the dorm.

They walked outside and felt the cold night air envelope them like lake water. Celestia involuntarily shivered and zipped up her leather jacket for warmth. They didn't walk far before they decided to sit next to one of the fountains before they went back.

"This past month has been crazy hasn't it?" Aurelia commented, "Initiation, team forming, new friends, it's like a dream."

"Yea," agreed Celestia, "It certainly feels longer than a month."

Then she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Aurelia.

"I was just remembering the time when Re made a joke that made Basil spit out his water," clarified Celestia, "and it landed all over Porph."

Now it was Aurelia's turn to laugh.

"Haha, yes!" she said through fits of giggles, "Basil had to apologize up and down for that one!"

The two girls laughed hysterically, remembering all the funny moments, from Basil spitting water, to Sylvia slipping on whipped cream.

"It wasn't even meant for her," stated Aurelia as seriously as she could, "It was meant for Wai, but Re got Sylvia instead!"

"I'll bet she was pissed," giggled Celestia.

"Re told me she was more pissed at his lack of aim than her slipping on it."

The laughter died down, as they finished their stories of things past. There was about a minute of silence when Aurelia asked a question.

"It's amazing isn't it?"

"What?" responded Celestia.

Aurelia looked at Celestia, "We got so lucky. Going into Beacon, I was worried that we would be separated. I didn't think we would end up on the same team and that I wouldn't be able to protect you from bullying."

Aurelia looked up at the sky, "It's just amazing to see how different things turned out. We could've had a horrible time, but instead we got to be on the same team together."

Celestia thought about this for a moment. Sure it was very fortunate that they got on the same team together, but was that really all it was? Luck?

She stared into the fountain. The water reflected her image perfectly, her dark pink hair, her blue eyes, and her pink ears. She reached up and touched them.

_Would it really have been that bad if we had been on different teams?_ Celestia wondered as she scratched her dog ears. _I mean Basil seems to be pretty awkward about it, but most of the people we met haven't been bad about it at all._

She put her hand down as she continued to stare at her reflection.

_ I mean I'm still not sure if I know them enough to trust them, but they're closer to me than most people have been. But would it have been that much different if-_

"Celestia?"

She snapped out of her thoughts, as she looked away from the fountain and towards Aurelia, who was standing ready to leave.

"Let's go back and play cards with the boys, sound good?"

Celestia nodded, and they headed back to the school.

* * *

All four of them sat in a circle around a board with the map of remnant on it. Porphyrios was reluctant to play at first, but at Basil's urging he conceded.

The game started off well enough, each person made good strategic plays to conquer the kingdoms. Porph was the first out in the first game and Basil self-destructed when going after Aurelia.

"No! I got a two!" cried Basil.

"Haha! That's what you get for trying to attack the kingdom of Mistral!" countered Aurelia.

Despite Aurelia's confidence, Celestia quickly dispatched the rest of Aurelia's forces after a few turns.

"I just couldn't draw well at the end," Aurelia complained, making excuses.

They played a second game in the same positions and surprisingly enough Porphyrios won.

"Porph, you just won," Aurelia stated in shock.

"I did?" asked Porphyrios surprised.

"Yea you're the only person left," stated Celestia, "also I'm assuming that means we can use that nickname for you now?"

"What? You? Uh…fine," agreed Porphyrios begrudgingly

Team Peacock decided to play one more game, but instead they would switch up their positions. It went perfectly fine, until Aurelia gained a lot of power and destroyed Celestia's forces.

"Damn!" Celestia exclaimed, "Guess I just didn't draw enough good Vacuo cards."

Porphyrios was the next to be destroyed, wiping out Mistral. This left Basil as Atlas and Aurelia as Vale. They went at it for a couple turns, Aurelia seeming to have the upper hand with her forces. However, Basil was only waiting for the right opportunity and played his trap card.

"What!?" yelled Aurelia, "How did you do that?"

Basil smirked and then finished up the game in a couple of moves, wining him the game.

"I still don't understand what happened," stated Aurelia in confusion.

"I lead you into a false sense of security," Basil said plainly, "letting some of my troops fall gave you confidence, enough to charge the rest of my forces, leading you straight into my trap."

"Too bad that strategy was just used for a board game," commented Porphyrios.

"Okay, how come Porph can win by not even trying, yet I can't win when I'm giving it my all!"

Everyone laughed at that, even Porphyrios.

After the game they chatted for a bit. Turns out Porphyrios and Basil did study after all, but not while sparring. When Celestia brought up the idea of Porphyrios studying while sparring, he chuckled a bit.

"I'm good Celestia, but I'm not that good," he claimed.

They exchanged good nights after a while and went to their respective beds. Celestia stayed up a bit longer, lying in bed thinking about the past month and what she thought about it. Finally she came to a conclusion.

_While I'm not entirely sure if I trust them completely, they are certainly good people. Basil may feel awkward around me, and Porph may be a bit too serious sometimes, but they're certainly trying not to be. So, while this situation may not be ideal for me, it certainly beats the alternative._

She smiled to herself. _As of right now, I'm satisfied with this outcome._

She rolled over and faced towards the boys side of the room. _And hopefully someday, I will be able to trust those two as much as I trust Aurelia._

And with that she fell asleep, optimistic about the future.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Notes: Hey, late chapter kind of, but it happens. So quick note here, this is where the story picks up and starts getting very serious. That being said I believe I'm going to stop at chapter 13, call it a season finale or whatever, after that I'll be taking a bit of a hiatus to structure the next "season." Hopefully it won't be too long of a hiatus, but until then enjoy this and the upcoming chapters!**

What It Takes

Chapter 9: Kindling

Cole stood over a table in the center of the room. He wore the same black suit and tie that he wore on the night they broke Roano out of prison. He adjusted his bowler hat and looked over the map on the table. There were red dots at certain locations, some of which were crossed out. The ones that weren't had arrows coming off of them, saying things like, 'Too secure' or 'Too far.'

As he pondered over the map, Roano entered the room. He was clad in a long, black trench coat with black, baggy jeans and brown boots. His hammer was slung over his back and didn't look like it encumbered him at all.

"You asked for me," he stated in a growling voice.

Cole turned to face him, "Yes, I did. Have a look."

Cole motioned for Roano to join him at the table. Roano positioned himself across from Cole and looked at the map.

"What's all this for?" he asked.

Cole smiled evilly, "This is our plan," he replied, pointing towards the dots, "we need to eliminate these targets in order to infiltrate the Schnee Dust Company in Vale."

Roano grunted in reply, "So what am I doing?"

"You and Coralia are going to destroy the homes at these coordinates," Cole answered, "they are the homes of hunters that are part of the Schnee Dust Company."

Cole walked over to Roano's side, "With these people out of the way, we will have no trouble taking what we want."

Roano looked questioningly at Cole, "And what do we want?"

Cole smiled again, "All in due time Roano, but first, you have to take care of the houses."

"Fine," Roano growled, not appreciating being left in the dark.

"Great," replied Cole, "now go grab Coralia and get going."

* * *

"So, you're saying that Cole put you in charge of this mission?"

Roano and Coralia were in the airship, heading toward their destination.

"Yes," Roano replied gruffly, "he told me that we gotta decimate certain houses to get what we need."

"Well I certainly hope he trusts you," voiced Coralia, pushing her hair behind her ears. She was no longer wearing the police uniform from before. Instead she was dressed in an orange cheongsam, a silk shirt with a floral pattern, with a long, black skirt and orange wrist pads and a red satchel at her waist. On her left hand she wore a small blue ring and on her ears were two black dagger earrings, one for each ear. Her steel fans were tucked away inside her shirt so that no one would see them.

Roano frowned; he didn't like the fact that Coralia was challenging his trustworthiness.

"Why?" He asked, "'cause you don't?"

Coralia shrugged, "You're new to the group, you're bigger than all of us and you were, or still are, a member of the White Fang. So, forgive me if I don't fully trust you."

"So you find me intimidating then?" inquired Roano.

Once again she shrugged, "I see you as a threat and a liability to the group, so let's focus on the mission and worry about trust later."

Roano was about to protest, when the airship started to descend to where they needed to be.

Roano and Coralia both jumped out and landed in the middle of the city square. The square was dark, the night sky was littered with stars, but there was no moon. Coralia looked around, there was no one around for miles, as expected, nobody would be up and roaming around at this late hour, but still they had to be careful.

"So," spoke Coralia, "where's the first stop?"

Roano merely pointed in the direction of the houses and walked. Coralia followed, amused at Roano's silence. They walked for a bit longer down one of the main roads before Roano motioned for her to stop. He pointed at a wealthy looking building to the left.

"That's the first hit," he voiced quietly.

"Then let's hit it," Coralia stated with a violent gleam in her eye.

Roano walked over to the house, drawing his sledgehammer from his back.

"What are you doing?" whispered Coralia viciously.

Roano turned toward Coralia, "Cole wants the buildings to look like they had structural damage dealt. That way it looks like an accident."

Coralia rolled her eyes, "Yea 'cause a sledgehammer will totally not look man made," she replied sarcastically.

Roano ignored her, and smashed one of the walls of the building. Taking another couple of swings at the other walls, Roano was satisfied.

"Alright," he said with a grunt, "light 'em up."

Coralia grinned as she took out her two steel fans. Opening them slightly, she activated the red dust in them, and fired. The house was hit by the blasts and immediately caught fire. The crackling sounds of the fire could be heard in the background as they went through a system of alleyways to get to their next target.

They reached the next house and repeated the process and then silently moved on to the third and final house on their list.

By now the sounds of law enforcement and firefighters were heard everywhere, attempting to reach the burning houses before it was too late. Roano and Coralia stood in front of the final house on their list. It was a middle class house that was two stories tall. It was painted white with green shutters on the windows. Coralia saw flashing lights out in the distance, the police and the fire fighters had reached the other two houses already.

"We should hurry," Coralia whispered, "they've already reached the other houses."

"Cole wants special treatment for this house," stated Roano calmly, "set it on fire."

Coralia charged up her fans again, and fired. Her dust immediately set the building on fire, the flames erupting from where the dust hit the building. After a few minutes, Roano took out his hammer and switched it into its mini-gun form.

"What are you doing?" asked Coralia angrily, "we're supposed to make it look like an accident."

"Not this one," indicated Roano, and he opened fire on the house, letting loose a stream of bullets across each floor to make sure he got every room. The house was now in shambles from the outside, and it collapsed in on itself, crashing to the ground.

"Time to leave," declared Roano as he put his weapon away.

Coralia followed him as they went back the way they headed carefully back to the airship.

* * *

It was dark inside the Schnee Dust Company as Cole and Olivia snuck inside. The heat was turned off, so the room was fairly cool. Cole and Olivia were surrounded by endless rows of cubicles with desks and computers. They had entered through a window on the third floor so as not to set off any alarms on the first floor. On the other side of the room was an elevator that would lead them to the floor they wanted to get to. As they approached the elevator, Cole slipped on his brass knuckles. Olivia gave him a confused look.

"You can't be too careful," was his response to her.

Olivia nodded and drew her own weapons, two machine pistol that were equipped onto her ammo belt.

They reached the elevator and pressed the up button. The elevator arrived within minutes, opened, and let the two crooks inside. Cole reached down and pressed the number six. A scanner appeared and a voice asked for an ID. Cole reached into his pocket and pulled out an ID that Coralia had stolen from one of the employees. The scanner accepted the card and they ascended to the sixth floor.

The doors opened again. They entered a room with a lot of test tubes, monitors, and other various scientific devices and technological appliances. They walked among all of the appliances, looking around for something in particular. They eventually found it in the form of a small remote. Cole picked it up and examined it. The remote had two buttons, one was labeled listen, the other labeled stop. Cole pocketed this and looked down at the table he got it from. There were various blueprints scattered around on the table, as well as pieces of machinery and a couple of microchips. Cole grabbed the blueprints and the chips and put them all in his pockets.

"We're done here," Cole declared with a smile.

Olivia grinned back, "Alright then, let's get out of here!"

They walked back toward the elevator, when suddenly its doors opened. Cole and Olivia ducked behind a couple tables, as a couple of armed guards walked in.

_I thought they were supposed to be on the first floor, _thought Cole, _how could they be on the sixth floor already?_

His question was answered when the guards spoke.

"You sure you heard the elevator moving?" asked the first guard.

"Positive, it's not that hard to hear an elevator at this time of night."

The guards walked among the tables as they searched for what could've caused the noise.

Cole looked at Olivia and motioned for her to stay low as he moved to attack.

As the guard moved towards his position, Cole stood up and swung. His brass knuckle collided with the man's head, and he fell to the ground with a thump. The other guard turned and saw Cole, but before he could yell, 'freeze,' Olivia had switched her weapons into their melee form, kamas, two small cylindrical handles with curved blades at the end, and cut down the other man.

"Piece of cake," cheered Olivia excitedly.

Cole was about to respond when the elevator opened again, this time with eight new guards. They opened fire as soon as they saw the bodies on the ground. Cole and Olivia duked down again, as the bullets flew by them, shattering the windows on the opposite side. Pinned down, Cole transformed his brass knuckles into their compact pistol form; Olivia switched hers back to machine pistols. Nodding to each other, they fired from behind cover, hitting a couple of guards here and there. Unfortunately, these guards were aura trained and were not too phased by the gunshots. Realizing this, Cole ducked back down, as Olivia kept firing. He took out a tiny gray remote and pressed the blue button on it. He put the remote away and motioned to Olivia. Olivia, noticing the gesture, nodded in agreement as they kept firing at the guards. After a few minutes, Cole's actions paid off as their airship appeared outside the window. Cole and Olivia dove out from cover as the airship opened fire on the entire room. Beakers shattered, computers sparked and the guards were scrambling to take cover from the sudden attack. Cole and Olivia quickly ran for the window and jumped out. The airship turned sideways and caught the two jumpers. It then took off fast enough so as to avoid any shootings from the guards.

Cole and Olivia stood up and were greeted by Roano and Coralia.

"Thanks for the save," Olivia smiled cheerfully.

"Well, you are needed for this," replied Coralia with a smirk.

"Did you do what had to be done?" inquired Cole.

"Yes," replied Roano curtly

"Good," Cole said satisfied.

"Did you get what you came for?" asked Coralia.

Cole smiled, "Of course," he responded and took out the little black remote with two buttons as well as the blueprints and the microchips.

Cole walked over to the cockpit and approached the pilot.

"Bring us back to the hideout," Cole commanded.

"Yes sir."

* * *

"You need to explain yourself."

Cole was back in his chambers at the hideout. The map was still on the table, a few more of the dots having been crossed out. He sat in his chair as he stared calmly at the cold glare Coralia was giving him.

"I'm sorry," Cole stated, his expression blank, "I do believe I've missed something here."

"You let Roano, a brand new member, be in charge of a crucial mission," Coralia spoke angrily, "instead of me, who has been here for much longer and has proved her loyalty."

Cole sighed and hung his head, "The key word there is loyalty."

Coralia crossed her arms and cocked her head, skeptical about what her leader was about to tell her.

"Coralia, I know for a fact that you're loyal," Cole continued, "However, Roano has to earn his loyalty in this group."

"So you immediately just let him lead a mission?" inquired Coralia, fuming.

"Yes," Cole said calmly. Coralia was about to interrupt when Cole continued, "Coralia, time is of the essence right now. I had to gain Roano's trust quickly, and setting him up with what seemed like an 'important mission' was the best way to do that. The best way to earn someone's trust is to show that you trust them, especially a man like Roano."

Coralia unfolded her arms, "Alright, but what if he just turned and tried to kill me?"

Cole smiled a cold smile, "I wouldn't have put you on the mission if I didn't think you could take him out."

Coralia smiled back, "Alright, what now?"

"Now," Cole said sinisterly, "we get to work."

* * *

Basil was stunned. He was sitting on his bed doing work, when he received an email from his family. When he read it, he almost couldn't believe what was being said. His house was completely destroyed, and his brother, Cinereus, was dead.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author Notes: Hey! Welcome to chapter 10! Things are about to get serious, but before that I want to say a few things. First off, if you've been reading since the start, thanks for showing interest in my story and I hope you've been enjoying it so far, I really appreciate you guys! Second, as I said before, this first part of the story is coming to a close, call it volume 1 if you will, and that means the posts will probably take longer to update as I try to make sure the chapters are coherent and overall good, for lack of a better term. Finally, I'm going to PAX East this weekend! I'll probably be wearing my leather jacket/some rwby shirt, probably Yang cause that's my favorite! Anyway if you see me come say hi, I'll be the tall one with Yang shirt, leather jacket, glasses and messy brown hair. Now without further ado, enjoy my favorite chapter to write!**

What It Takes

Chapter 10: Rift

Basil continued to stare at the email on his scroll. He had just been told that, not only had his home been destroyed, but his younger brother, Cinereus had been killed. They hadn't found a body, but he was assumed to have been crushed by the building or incinerated by the fire. Either way, Basil didn't want to think about it. He and Cinereus had been very close. He remembered taking the airships to and from school with his brother, making idle chit-chat as they watched the water below glisten from the sun. He remembered the times they would fight, childishly, not speaking to each other for a few hours, and then making up, forgetting what the fight was in the first place. They were not just brothers, they were best friends. He had written to his brother everyday about what he was doing, and how everything was going. He would also video call once a week to catch up with him in real time. Now to think he was no longer alive…

Basil grabbed the necklace he wore. It was half of the yin-yang symbol. He had given the other half of the symbol to Cinereus as a parting gift when he left for Beacon. He had wanted it to show that despite the distance, they would never be truly apart. They would always have each other no matter how scary the world got.

A tear ran down his cheek, which he quickly wiped away.

_No, _thought Basil, _I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna let my emotions show up and get the best of me._

The door opened making Basil jump.

Celestia and Aurelia entered the room, each wearing their school uniforms. They were talking about the class they had just come from, discussing the lesson that they just had in history. Having put her books away, Celestia turned to look at Basil. He hastily looked away and out the window, hoping that she had not noticed his somber look that seemed evident on his face.

"Hey Basil," greeted Celestia cheerily.

"Hey," Basil replied in a flat voice.

"How are you doing?" she asked, slight concern in her voice.

_I can't let her know what's going on, _decided Basil, _I need to handle this on my own, and I don't need a shoulder to cry on._

Basil turned to Celestia with a smile on his face.

"I'm good," he lied trying to fake cheeriness in his voice, "how are you?"

"I'm doing well," Celestia responded with a smile imprinted on her face, "we just had an interesting history class with Professor Oobleck."

"Oh, that's cool," Basil stated plainly.

There was an awkward silence. The two of them stared at each other, trying to see what the other was thinking, even though it was impossible.

"Well, I better get to combat class," he declared, wanting to end the stare down.

He got off his bed, put on his bomber jacket over his green shirt, stepped into his sneakers, and walked out the door.

_Good, _determined Basil as he let his smile fall, _it seems like they didn't notice anything_.

He let out a deep breath; _hopefully I can get through the rest of the day without having to deal with these feelings._

And with that, he somberly walked to his class.

* * *

_Something's wrong._

Celestia had concluded this before Basil even spoke to her. As soon as she had looked at him, she noticed the gloominess on his face, even when he tried to look away. As their conversation carried on, Celestia noticed it even more. It was very clear from his false smile to his controlled voice.

"He's not himself," Celestia spoke aloud.

"Hmm?"

Aurelia looked curiously at Celestia from the book she was reading.

"Basil," Celestia pressed, "something's up with him. He's upset about something."

"You're imagining it Celeste," Aurelia said, brushing away her concern: "He sounded perfectly fine to me."

"You didn't see him like I did," insisted Celestia, "his face looked down trodden and unexpressive."

Celestia paused waiting for a reaction from Aurelia. But Aurelia just went back to reading her book, turning to the next page.

"You worry too much Celestia. If he was upset he would've shared it with us, after all we are his teammates."

She said the last word with a little distain, clearly still upset over how Basil acted around Celestia.

_She needs to get over it, _Celestia thought angrily, _some people just need more time to be comfortable around Faunus._

_ Besides, _Celestia considered, _he has gotten a lot better about it recently._

Aurelia looked at Celestia again, watching her look out the window. She knew enough to know what Celestia was thinking.

She sighed, marked her place and shut her book.

"Look," Aurelia started, "I know you insist that he's getting better around you. But I honestly don't see him changing. It's been two months since initiation; he should be seeing you as a human, not as some animal."

"Some people take longer than others; there must be a reason why."

"Yea," Aurelia explained exasperatedly, "he's discriminatory."

"Aurelia!" Celestia yelled angrily.

"What? You know it's true," Aurelia reasoned loudly, "Wake up and stop with this fantasized image you have of him. He doesn't like Faunus!"

"That's not true! Stop being so stubborn!"

"Stop being so naïve! It's not who you are!"

The two girls stared at each other, realizing what had just happened. They had never fought so vehemently before. During their time at Sanctum, they had always looked out for each other, Aurelia more so than Celestia. To be here now yelling at each other was shocking to say the least. They continued to stand there, staring and waiting for what was going to happen next.

Then, they ran over and hugged each other.

"I'm sorry," Aurelia spoke softly.

"I'm sorry too," responded Celestia, "I shouldn't have yelled."

"I shouldn't have either," stated Aurelia on the verge of tears, "It's just…you're my only friend. I don't have anyone else here and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know you don't," Celestia explained, "but you can't protect me forever, I have to be able to do what I think needs to be done."

Celestia released Aurelia.

"And right now, I think Basil needs someone to talk to. I know you think he's just prejudice, but I think there is something more. And in order to figure that out, I need you to help me."

Aurelia nodded, wiping away her tears

"And if there isn't anything else to him, we can get mad at him together, agreed?" Celestia recommended with a smile.

Aurelia smiled back at her, "Of course! We are in this together."

Celestia smile widened. Happy that her best friend was with her on this made her feel great.

_Alright, _pondered Celestia, _now I just gotta plan out how I'm going to approach Basil._

* * *

He felt the swords slam into his trident. Startled out of his thoughts, Basil pushed back against Re's swords, hoping to get him off balance. Re quickly backed off though, leaving Basil stumbling forward as Re sidestepped and sliced at Basil back. The impact slammed Basil into the ground, leaving him stunned for a bit.

Basil got up, readying his trident. He looked at his scroll, seeing that his aura was now in the red.

_Have to be careful here, _thought Basil as Re charged forward with his blades.

Basil switched his trident into pistols and fired. Re blocked each bullet that came close to him, but most of the shots missed completely. As Re approached, Basil activated his semblance creating a green aura around him. Re swung his blade and Basil dodged it at the last second. Changing his pistols back to trident form, he swung down at Re. However, Re was expecting that and rolled out of the way. He switched his scimitars into shotgun form and fired a blast at Basil. His mind went blank as the blast approached him. Unsure of what to do, Basil shielded himself with his arms, forgetting that he had almost no aura left. The impact slammed into him, sending him into the wall.

Dazed and confused, Basil struggled to stand. He heard a voice calling out an order; possibly to call the match, but Basil was too disoriented to tell. He saw a head in front of him, but other than the boy's blond hair it was hard to make out who it was.

"Hey…Basil…okay?"

Basil focused his senses as much as he could and finally saw Re's face in front of him.

"Basil are you okay?" he asked, the concern evident in his face.

"Yea…" Basil said groggily.

Suddenly, Basil felt a spike of pain in his chest and he nearly collapsed. Using his Trident for support, he stood back up, ignoring the pain in his chest. Soon, two more people approached them. Basil, still dazed, saw a boy with purple tinted hair and beard and a bespectacled woman with blonde hair. As they came closer, he recognized them as Porphyrios and professor Goodwitch.

"Are you alright Basil?" asked Glynda with concern.

"I'm fine," claimed Basil, still leaning heavily on his trident.

"You don't look like you're okay" reprimanded Porphyrios.

"Well I am," he said stubbornly but his wavering voice betrayed him.

To prove his point, Basil attempted to take a step, but stumbled a bit when the pain in his chest returned. Determined to prove he could walk, Basil took another step and succeeded without much struggling.

"Perhaps you should go to the infirmary?" suggested Glynda.

"No, I'm fine," insisted Basil. He didn't want to go the infirmary, he didn't want anyone fussing over him, he just wanted to go to bed and sleep away this nightmare of a day. He took a couple more steps without too much trouble, wanting to prove to Glynda that he was fine.

"Well," Glynda started, "It looks like you can walk, but you should head back to your dorm at least. Porphyrios, help him get back to your dorm."

"Alright," Porphyrios agreed and grabbed Basil's other arm to help him walk.

Together they walked awkwardly out of the battle room.

* * *

They walked down the hall for a few minutes in complete silence. Basil was quietly cursing himself for his lack of good judgment.

_I said I wouldn't let my thoughts get to me, _thought Basil angrily, _but I let thoughts of Cinereus distract me._

Frustrated at his own incompetence, Basil tripped over his own two feet. He would have fell flat on his face, if it hadn't been for Porphyrios catching him at the last minute.

"Thanks…" Basil said appreciatively.

"What's up with you today?" inquired Porphyrios bluntly.

"What do you mean?" Basil questioned, feigning ignorance.

_I don't need someone to sympathize with my problem. It's my burden to bear, no one else's._

"You seemed distracted today," continued Porphyrios, "you barely blocked your opponent's blades, your bullets were completely off point, and you didn't even attempt to evade the shotgun blast."

Basil hung his head. Porphyrios had just now shed more light on his failure to perform in combat. Basil rapidly tried to think of an excuse for why he was so absent-minded.

"Sorry…" started Basil, "didn't get a lot of sleep last night…"

Porphyrios looked quizzically at Basil. At first he thought Porphyrios was about to call his bluff but instead, he just accepted Basil's answer.

"Well, get more sleep. We can't let your tired lack of focus drag this team down."

"Yea…I'll get right on that…" replied Basil, exhausted both physically and mentally from the day's events.

They reached the dorm room and pushed the door open. It was empty, save for some scattered books and papers from the girl's daily study sessions.

_They take their education seriously,_ Basil realized as he slumped onto the bed. His chest was still in a lot of pain, but he refused to show it.

"You hungry?" asked Porphyrios, "I could bring you something from the dining hall."

Basil's stomach felt empty, he hadn't eaten dinner due to the untimely news of his brother's death. But he did not feel like sitting at a table of people who might want to talk to him. And while Porph may have wanted to bring something to him, he didn't want to burden his friend.

"No thanks Porph, I ate before class," he claimed.

Porphyrios looked Basil up and down and then shrugged.

"Suit yourself," he said and he left the room.

Basil tried to lie down on the bed, but sat up almost immediately due to an even more intense pain in his chest.

_I must have broken a rib or something, _Basil recognized, _I should probably take some pain medication_.

He tried to stand up, but the pain in his chest flared up, and he sat back down. Mustering up more strength he got up, wincing again at the pain, and started walking toward his bag. Pulling out a couple pills, he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and downed the pills with a drink and sat back down.

Knowing that his aura would heal him eventually gave him little comfort as he sat on the bed with nothing but pain and misery to accompany him.

He sat there, ignoring both sources of agony in order to remain as composed as possible.

_It's my burden to bear, _he repeated to himself, _no one else's._

* * *

Celestia and Aurelia sat at a table in the dining hall. Together they had come up with how they were going to approach Basil about the topic at hand.

"Okay now remember," Celestia spoke, "when he sits down don't try to force him right away, just talk normally and lead into the conversation about what's going with him."

"Got it," confirmed Aurelia, "and no getting angry unless he's being stubborn."

"Right, we need to let him know that we are here for him and that he shouldn't feel the need to keep things from us."

"Right," agreed Aurelia, "oh here comes Porphyrios."

Porphyrios walked through the crowd, his muscular build; long hair and beard making him stand out like a sore thumb. He was still dressed in his blue tunic and white cargo pants, showing that he just came from combat class. Seeing Aurelia and Celestia at a table with their uniforms, Porphyrios moved toward them and sat down with his food.

"Where is Basil?" inquired Celestia, knowing that he and Porphyrios had the same last class today.

"He's in the dorm room," Porphyrios answered, "he got hit with a shotgun blast from Re during combat today."

Celestia's eyes widened in concern, "Is he alright?"

Porphyrios shrugged, "He's having trouble walking, but he insists that he's fine. He also said that he had dinner before combat class."

Celestia and Aurelia both looked at each other. Both of them realized that Basil getting injured might relate to what Basil was going through.

"Did he seem distracted at all during the fight?" Aurelia asked.

Porphyrios looked up from his steak and stared curiously at Aurelia.

"Yes he did, why?"

Celestia leaned in toward Porphyrios and spoke in a low voice.

"Before he left for combat class today, Basil seemed down about something. It became more evident when we started talking; he spoke flatly and tried to fake a smile. After that he quickly left for class, as if he was trying to avoid conversation."

Celestia exchanged a quick look with Aurelia before continuing.

"So Aurelia and I determined that something must have happened that caused Basil to act so differently and that we need to get him to open up and make him realize we can help."

Porphyrios stroked his beard for a bit, letting what the girls said sink in. After a couple of minutes pondering, Porphyrios spoke:

"That would explain his poor combat ability in class today, and if what you say is true, fixing the problem is the only way to get him back to how he was."

Celestia smiled, "Thanks for understanding Porph."

Porphyrios grumbled at the nickname but nodded his head.

"The only question is, how do we go about it?" inquired Porphyrios.

"Well here's the plan…"

* * *

Basil cringed as he felt another stab of pain in his chest. The pain medication had finally taken effect, so some of the discomfort had passed, but there was still some pain every now and again. Frustrated with his situation, Basil leaned against the wall next to his bed.

As he sat there, thoughts of today's events ran through his mind. He remembered waking up this morning and eating breakfast as normal, going to his classes and then taking a break in the dorm. Other than being unfocused in class, nothing out of the ordinary had happened, yet the entire day Basil felt as if something bad was about to happen. His thoughts had come true that afternoon right before his combat class with Goodwitch. That was when he had received the email about his brother, and from that point, things had gone downhill. He reflected back on his fight with Re and the thought that crossed his mind before he was hit with the shotgun blast.

He felt his eyes begin to tear up as he thought more about it and hastily wiped them away.

_Stop it, _scolded Basil to himself, _crying about it isn't going to do anything and I don't want anyone to see me like that._

Basil sighed and then winced as he felt another sharp pain in his chest, making him more frustrated than before.

_I just wish today would end, _hoped Basil, _This day has been awful._

The dorm door opened and Basil turned his head to see the rest of the team enter the room from dinner. Basil's stomach rumbled as he remembered that he hadn't eaten dinner today. Once again Basil descended into self-pity when he was addressed.

"Hey Basil," Celestia spoke as she sat down on her bed, "how you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Basil replied with a bit more force than he intended, "I took some pain relievers so it's not as bad as it was."

"I don't understand why you don't just go to the infirmary," commented Porphyrios while polishing his weapons, "if something is bothering you, you should get it checked out."

"I'm fine," Basil insisted, but had no other retort to that statement.

"You sure you're alright Basil?" inquired Aurelia with concern evident on her face.

"Yes," Basil stressed tiredly, "I already said I took pain medication to dull the pain."

"That's not what she meant…" Celestia stated her voice trailing off as if she wasn't sure how to continue her train of thought.

Basil all of a sudden felt nervous; he knew exactly where this was going and wanted nothing to do with it.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean," Basil said evasively. If he could avoid the question enough maybe they would give up.

"You've been very off today," remarked Aurelia, "you barely spoke to us in the dorm earlier today, you seemed very evasive when you did speak."

"You were also very distracted during combat class today," observed Porphyrios, "I have never seen you distracted in combat class."

"I told you, I didn't sleep well last night," Basil claimed desperately. He could feel the tears welling up. His breath started coming short as his hands shook slightly in his lap.

"That still doesn't explain why you were barely talking to us before class," reasoned Aurelia.

"It also doesn't explain why you're being evasive right now," claimed Porphyrios.

"Or why you skipped dinner today."

"Or…"

Basil felt the tears welling up more and more. The sudden onslaught of questions and accusations completely engulfed Basil. He was so overwhelmed by the constant barrage that his feelings started to overcome him. Panic began to enter his head as he realized that he couldn't escape from this situation. Anger washed over him as he became increasingly frustrated with the position that his teammates had put him in. Misery, which he was already swimming in, started to drown him.

Then he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We just want to help you," came Celestia's soothing voice, trying to reassure Basil.

In the back of his mind, he knew that Celestia meant well and was just trying to calm him down, but in his current state, he only saw it as another source of frustration.

"I don't want any help!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, violently shaking off Celestia's hand.

Everyone stood in shocked silence at Basil's outburst. He was pretty sure that the entire hall had heard the shout, but at this point he didn't care.

"I don't want your help! I didn't ask for your help! I don't need your help! So just shut the hell up all of you!"

Basil took deep breaths as he tried to calm down. He felt hot tears trying to escape as he let out his anger, but Basil blinked them back as he observed everyone's reaction. Porphyrios seemed unphased by his outburst, which didn't surprise Basil at all. Aurelia's mouth hung open as she started in shock at Basil; she had not expected him to get so angry. But it was Celestia's face that stuck out most in Basil's mind. Her hand was still hanging in the air where he had shaken it off. Her face had fallen into a look of hurt and sadness. Her eyes trembled, as if she were about to cry as well. She looked like she had just been slapped across the face.

Realizing that he had caused all of this pain to one of his teammates, no to one of his friends, was unbearable for him and he felt the tears returning in full force. Not wanting his friends to see him like this, Basil turned and ran out the door.

* * *

The three of them stood there in stunned silence. They had assumed that trying to address the issue would allow Basil to feel more secure about sharing the information with all of them. But now, Celestia realized that it was the worst thing they could have done.

_He didn't want to tell us about what happened, _realized Celestia, _and we just tried to force it out of him. What kind of friends are we?_

Celestia moved toward the door.

"Where are you going?" called out Porphyrios.

"I'm going to find him."

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" questioned Aurelia, "I mean he seemed like he didn't want to talk at all. Not to mention he didn't really want anything from you."

Aurelia was a bit ticked off about that.

"You were just trying to help and he tried to get as far away as possible."

"No, it wasn't that," spoke Celestia, "he was overwhelmed by us persistently questioning him."

"And you think going after him to question him further is a good idea?" asked Porphyrios quizzically.

"No, I'm not gonna push him. I'll just be there to support him."

Celestia turned to Aurelia, "Sometimes you just need someone to be there for you. Especially if you feel like the whole world is against you."

_Like what you did for me Aurelia, _Celestia thought, silently hoping that Aurelia would understand what she was saying.

Thankfully, she did.

"Alright," Aurelia sighed, "good luck."

Celestia smiled in appreciated and then turned to Porphyrios.

"Fine," he conceded, "as long as what you're doing doesn't screw things up further."

Celestia's smile widened as her leader agreed with her.

"Thanks guys," acknowledged Celestia.

And with that, Celestia walked out of the room to go find Basil.

* * *

Basil sat near the edge of the rooftop as he stared out at the rest of the academy. The lights from the other dorms danced before him, shining brightly against the darker buildings. Basil shivered and curled up on himself. Hot, silent tears ran down his face as, once again, his thoughts overwhelmed him.

_My brother's dead, my chest is in pain, and now I'm pretty sure my friends all hate me, _thought Basil dejectedly.

He let out a shaky breath he suddenly realized he was holding in. Basil did not understand why it was so hard for him to hold back his emotions this time. Normally he was able to conceal how he felt and was able to get through the day. He remembered back at Signal, any time he felt there was something negative, or something was wrong, he would bottle it up. He learned from his father that being emotional is a weakness, that they cloud your judgment. Basil would try his best to keep it all inside, but sometimes it was just too much.

_I haven't lost it that badly for a long time, _Basil pondered, _maybe it's just become way too much for me to handle now._

It was at this moment that he heard light footsteps behind him. His heart sank, knowing it was one of teammates. He did not want to deal with the repercussions of his previous actions just yet, but it looked like he had no choice in the matter.

He wiped his tears away from his face with the sleeve of his uniform.

"Hey," Basil addressed the person behind him in a slightly shaky voice, without turning around.

"Hey."

Basil recognized the voice as Celestia's, and his heart sank lower as he remembered her face when he hastily left the room.

"Look I'm sorry about what happened in there," Basil apologized hastily, "I didn't mean to lash out like that."

He took a deep breath and released it, "I'm just dealing with a lot right now."

A silence hung in the air as Celestia walked over and sat next to Basil.

"I know you said you didn't want help," she started tentatively, "but you need to know that we're here for you no matter what."

Basil looked up and met Celestia's gaze; her blue eyes gleamed in the evening light. They swam with tenderness as she continued to speak.

"We're your friends. We're here to help you. That's what friends do."

Basil let out a weak smile and looked back out at the evening landscape.

"I appreciate the thought," Basil acknowledged in a flat voice, "but they're my problems and I don't want to burden them on you guys. It's better if I deal with them on my own."

He continued to stare solemnly into the sky as Celestia let this last statement sink in.

"But you don't have to," she whispered quietly, "believe me I've been in a similar boat."

Basil looked back at Celestia to see her staring at her hands as she spoke. Her face was solemn as she continued:

"Back at Sanctum, my old school, I was always picked on for my heritage as a Faunus. There would always be some kid around the corner, waiting for me to come by, so they could tell me how I was inferior; different. I had always thought that sharing my problems with my friends would either worsen the situation or that I would be bothering them with something that wasn't their problem."

She looked up from her hands and out toward the landscape in front of her.

"But when I met Aurelia things changed. She found out about the bullies and helped me to stand up for myself. She would always listen when I had an issue with someone discriminating against me, or just Faunus in general. So, I would always share my problems with her, and you know what? It helped. By talking about my issues, it felt like I had removed something from my chest. Every time I told Aurelia about it she would always support me and my thoughts about it."

Once again she locked eyes with Basil.

"I'm very thankful to have Aurelia as a friend. She has helped me through hard times just by talking and supporting me."

Celestia looked away, wiping a small tear away.

Basil looked away as well.

_Is she right? Would it be helpful to talk about the issues rather than bottling them up? But what if it just makes things worse? Negative actions make me seem weak and vulnerable. But my friends would be supportive of me, right?_

Basil sighed deeply; _I guess it's worth a shot._

"I got an email today," Basil began, as if just telling a story.

Celestia turned, her head cocked to the side in curiosity.

Basil looked her at her again.

"It was from my mother back home. We usually keep in contact every week to check in with each other. Usually I'd video call my family in the library and we would all catch up with each other. It was mostly me and my brother talking though, we could go on and talking about the simplest of things."

"You're both very close huh?"

"Yea," Basil replied with a half-smile, "he and I are best friends, and we're inseparable. He's attending Signal just like I did, said he wanted to follow in my footsteps. Before I left I gave him a very special gift."

Basil reached into his shirt and pulled out his necklace. It was on a silver chain and took the shape of half the yin yang symbol. Basil held it in his hand as he spoke.

"I gave Cinereus the other half to this necklace, to show that no matter what, we would always be together, even if we weren't physically there."

His smile faltered as he reflected back onto the point of this conversation.

"But now…"

Celestia frowned as well, "What happened?"

Basil's eyes began to swim as he tried to tell her what happened, "I got an email a couple hours after lunch. It was from my mother as I said. And she told me…she told me…"

Tears started to form; he could feel their salt slowly drifting down his cheeks. He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder and turned to see Celestia, ready and able to support Basil with what was going on. For the first time in his entire life, Basil felt ready to openly convey his problems to someone else.

"He's dead…"

And with that Basil lost it. Thankfully, Celestia was quite ready for it. She embraced Basil as he held onto her, sobbing into her shoulder, unrelenting tears held back the entire day, finally released from his eyes, falling onto Celestia's jacket. He cried, uncontrollably, for a good ten minutes before he finally started to calm down, all the while Celestia held him there, knowing from experience that it was all she could do to help him right now.

At last he pulled away; his tear-streaked face looked away from Celestia, embarrassed by his display of neediness.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that," he apologized quietly.

"It's okay," she replied, "it's unhealthy to keep your emotions in all the time."

They sat there for some time, not knowing what else to say.

"What happened?"

Basil turned, wiping his eyes in the process, "What?" he asked, confused.

"To your brother, did the email say what happened?"

Basil looked away and stared out at Beacon again.

"I'm sorry," Celestia apologized quickly, "I shouldn't have asked."

"No it's fine," Basil said, "I want to talk about it."

He wasn't quite sure why he wanted to, whether it was the fact that he had finally voiced his what was on his mind or that Celestia was just easy to confide to. Either way Basil felt comfortable for the first time that day and wanted to discuss what happened.

"The email said there was a fire a few nights ago. Several houses were set ablaze, nobody knows why, none of them were close to each other. My house was one of the ones that caught fire. My parents were trying to get out with Cinereus when gun fire was heard. Next thing they knew, bullets were shredding the entire house. They couldn't tell whether or not there was one shooter or multiple, but it was clear they were trying to make sure no one survived. Cinereus then got caught in the cross fire and fell out the window. When my mother had gotten out, my father tried to go around the house to find him, but the house collapsed before he could do anything."

Basil once again looked into Celestia's eyes. Her dog ears twitched slightly as she thought about the email.

"I'm sorry about what happened," she said and put her hand on Basil's shoulder, "it must be really hard to deal with."

Basil nodded, "It is, especially when it's probably my fault."

Celestia cocked her head, confused, "How is it your fault?"

Basil sighed, "My father was a huntsman once, but when he married my mom he got a job at the Schnee Dust Company branch in Vale. He wanted a less dangerous job so that he could spend more time with his family when they started one. Everything was great until the White Fang attacks increased."

Basil glanced at Celestia, "I assume you know who they are and why they would attack the company?"

Celestia nodded; naturally, the White Fang would attack a company that abused Faunus labor.

Basil gave her a solemn look and then continued.

"My father started taking his old weapon to work, to defend himself from any attacks that may happen. It worked fine, until one day he returned early from work, bloody and beaten. He was badly cut and had a few broken bones. Nobody knows how they were able to infiltrate the company, but it was assumed they had inside help. He was given time off, but that didn't prevent the White Fang from continuing to try."

Basil sucked in some air as he prepared to tell Celestia the scariest moment in his life.

"That night, the White Fang snuck into our house. They broke in to try and finish off my father. Thankfully I had woken up at that time, I'm not sure why, but regardless I heard several footsteps from downstairs. I knew something was wrong so I grabbed my trident and silently headed downstairs. I saw five White Fang members in full uniform with masks and swords and pistols. Having the element of surprise, I attacked. I was barely able to hold them off long enough for the police to show up. The White Fang were arrested on the spot."

Basil took another breath and looked at Celestia, waiting for her response.

Celestia looked away from Basil and out toward the center of Beacon.

"So," started Celestia as she rubbed her ears with one hand, "you feel responsible for this event because you think it was retaliation for what happened that night."

Basil nodded, "If I hadn't stopped the White Fang, my dad would've been killed, but now because I stopped them my brother is dead."

Celestia shook her head, "No," she spoke firmly, "If you hadn't stopped them the White Fang would have killed you and your family. You stopping them saved everyone in that house."

"But Cinereus was still killed later," Basil countered, tears starting form again.

"There was no way you could have known that," Celestia reasoned, "you shouldn't regret something that you couldn't prevent. Everything you have done to this moment has made you who you are. Regretting anything in the past means that you regret apart of yourself too."

They sat there silently for a while. Basil knew she was right, but feeling like there was nothing he could have done was not in his nature. After a few minutes, Celestia broke the silence.

"So, I'm assuming the whole White Fang thing is why you feel weird around me, right?"

Basil looked away, not wanting to look Celestia in the eye, "Yea," he answered, embarrassed, "I was raised by my dad that the White Fang were not to be trusted and I guess that evolved into a distrust of all Faunus. At least that's how I felt before."

"And now?" Celestia inquired hopefully, "Do you trust me now?"

Basil looked at Celestia; he really took in all of her features for the first time in this moment. Her eyes seemed to stare straight into his soul. Her pink hair flowed lightly in the evening breeze, falling back into place neatly after it had passed. And her ears twitched every so often in anticipation for his answer. In this moment, Basil knew exactly what his answer was.

"I do," he answered, "I trust you, and I'm ashamed that I didn't trust you sooner. I'm sorry for the way I acted all semester and I hope that you can forgive me, because I sure as hell want to make it up to you."

Her face lit up like a firework and she pulled him into a friendly hug.

"Oww," Basil cried out as he felt the stabbing pain in his chest flare up again.

"I'm so sorry," Celestia apologized immediately, "I forgot about your injury."

"It's fine," Basil replied with a grimace.

"Maybe I should bring you to the infirmary," Celestia commented, "someone should really look at it."

"Yea," conceded Basil, "that's a good idea. Afterwards I'll explain what's going on to Porph and Aurelia; they deserve to know as well."

With some help from Celestia, Basil stood up and started to walk to the infirmary. Basil met Celestia's gaze and they both smiled, knowing that there days of avoidance were over, and that their days of friendship were right on the horizon.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Notes: After about a month, Chapter 11 is now here! Hope you enjoy, I put a lot of work into this chapter!**

What It Takes

Chapter 11: War

Wai stood his ground as the girl lunged at him with her katars, triple bladed gauntlets. The sound of metal on metal rang out through the arena, as both teams clashed with each other. They were participating in a volunteer sparring match against the members of Team Indigo, who were a year above them. He was unsure what this match was supposed to teach, but all Wai knew was that he wanted to beat them.

_We easily have the capability, _reasoned Wai as he parried another strike from his opponent's katar, _we just gotta plan correctly._

His opponent was a tall female bird Faunus with a thin face and pale white skin. He knew that she was a Faunus because she had black feathers on her head instead of hair. As he clashed the blades from his gauntlets in between her triple bladed katars, his blue eyes met her yellow ones. They glared at each other, trying to gain the upper hand in their clash. She had a small silver hoop earring in one ear, which swung back and forth as she struggled against Wai's brute force. He was easily stronger than her, and Wai knew it. He smirked at her as he pushed against her, attempting to put her off balance. Unfortunately, that was exactly what the Faunus wanted him to do. As she felt the increase in pressure on her black gauntlets, she quickly sidestepped, her dark purple cloak swishing with her. While Wai was off balance the girl quickly kicked him in the chest, sending him a few feet across the floor, his blue boots scraping against the floor. Trying to catch his breath, Wai stood up shakily.

_She thinks she's so smart,_ thought Wai as he took ragged breaths. As he stood there, he took in the rest of his opponent's appearance. She wore a long sleeve, button up, purple blouse with a black under shirt and black skinny jeans. The jeans came up a bit short, showing off her ankles and her blue belly flats.

_Certainly odd attire for combat, _Wai pondered to himself, readjusting his leather jacket. _Alright, let's see how you deal with plan Alpha._

Wai retracted his blades to defend his upper arms as he prepared his grenade launchers. The girl charged in, preparing to bull rush him. Wai raised his gauntlet and fired a single grenade. The grenade hit the Faunus' feet, causing her to take a reactionary jump. However, when she landed, Wai was no longer there. He had run to get behind her while the smoke was clearing. Blades drawn, Wai charged at his opponent.

She turned around just in time to go on the defensive; fortunately, this gave Wai the advantage, allowing him to take control of the fight for a bit. Unfortunately, this girl was skilled at being defensive; she quickly blocked each and every blow that Wai tried to hit her with. Finally, she parried a stab at her stomach away from her, and delivered a quick kick to Wai's chest with the flat of her foot. The blow did the trick, keeping Wai at a distance from her as she retracted her katars into her gauntlets. She then unleashed a hailstorm of bullets from her gauntlets, like some sort of submachine gun. Wai quickly raised his gauntlets in defense, protecting his upper body from the bullets.

When there was a break in the storm, Wai raised one of his gauntlets and fired a grenade at his opponent. She was hit square in the chest by the explosion, giving Wai time to gauge the situation.

He looked around and saw that his team wasn't fairing any better. Re was fighting a muscular, dirty-blond boy with a claymore that easily over powered Re's scimitars. Namra was trying to keep a short, pink pig-tailed girl with two bladed tonfas at a distance. This was failing immensely, as each time Namra used her chain to throw one of her short swords at the pigtailed girl, the girl would evade and quickly sprint toward Namra, causing her to quickly go on the defense.

_The pink girl must have a ton of energy to be able to keep that up, _thought Wai.

Sylvia was the only one who was not struggling. She was locked in a fairly even sword battle, her falchion against this guy's talwar. The guy was tall with short, light grey hair that matched his attire, a grey button down shirt, dark grey khakis and brown boat shoes. He was more dressed up for a semi-formal gathering than a fight.

Either way, it was clear that they would all be overwhelmed eventually. Even if Sylvia kept pace with the other team's leader, the rest of them couldn't last much longer against their opponents.

_And Sylvia is completely oblivious to this,_ thought Wai irritably.

As the thought entered his head, his opponent charged at him again. Regaining his stance, Wai extended his blades and blocked the girl's attack. He pushed her back swiftly before grabbing Sylvia's attention:

"Sylvia!" Wai called out.

Sylvia turned to see Wai once again struggling with his opponent. The distraction cost her, as the boy in grey sliced her with his sword. Sylvia was smacked backward, almost causing her to lose balance. She looked around and realized that her other teammates were struggling as well.

"You'll have to do better than that," taunted the grey haired boy with a sneer.

Sylvia scowled, she couldn't wait to take this guy down, but first she had to help her friends.

As the boy rushed at her, Sylvia switched her weapon to its bow form, drew a red arrow from her side quiver and fired at his feet. The arrow caused a fiery explosion that sent him reeling back.

"To me!" called out Sylvia.

Wai heard the call and fired two grenades at the Faunus, causing her to deftly dodge out of the way, giving Wai time to get to Sylvia.

The entire team grouped up around Sylvia, as the other team recovered from the distractions.

"What's the plan sis?" Re asked quickly.

"We're gonna switch up positions, like what we did in the forest," Sylvia ordered, "Wai take the big guy with the claymore, Re you get the short one with pigtails, and Namra you take the Faunus with the gauntlets. The cocky one in grey is mine."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Namra with a slight smile, she had been much more at ease with Sylvia during their time at Beacon. The two of them, through some slight disagreements, had become good teammates and even better friends.

Normally Wai would agree with this plan, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't work. For one thing, he was pretty sure the guy with the claymore could out muscle him. Wai was also pretty sure the girl in pigtails could out speed Re and that the Faunus would be too good of a counter to Namra. Realizing these weaknesses, he decided to relate them to his leader:

"You sure about this?" he questioned, "I don't know if these are the best matches."

"Yes I'm sure," Sylvia snapped, "now get ready: here they come!"

Their opponents came at them quickly, ready for round two.

"Go!" yelled Sylvia.

The plan failed utterly. Wai was quickly out muscled by the severe blows from the blond's claymore, causing Wai to collapse to the ground. The pink-haired girl ran circles around Re, beating him down quickly and the Faunus disarmed Namra, sending her into one of the walls. Sylvia, distracted by the fall of her teammates, was quickly disarmed and knocked to the ground. While Sylvia was on the ground, the boy put his blade to her throat, signifying that he had won. Wai was infuriated at this gesture, thinking of it as an insult to put the blade so close to her throat.

"And that's the match," called out Glynda.

The boy in grey lowered and sheathed his weapon. He extended a hand toward Sylvia.

"You put up a good fight," he said, a smirk still on his face.

Sylvia accepted the hand and stood up with his help.

Wai watched as Re and Namra got up slowly, but did not notice the grey haired boy helping Sylvia up.

As he tried to get up himself, he saw a hand extended out toward him. The muscular blond boy smiled at him as he held out his hand.

"Hey, sorry about that," he apologized with a shrug of his shoulders, "but it _is_ combat class, am I right?" He chuckled at his own joke as Wai accepted his hand grudgingly.

They all turned to stand at attention, while Glynda addressed the class.

"Now as you can see, Team Indigo easily defeated Team Sunrise. Let this show you that just a year of training can help you improve immensely. Hopefully this will keep some of you from slacking off in class." She turned and glared at another blond boy in the crowd, who flinched at her gaze.

"Remember, huntsmen and huntresses must always be performing at their very best, otherwise they won't be able to handle the situations that they are put in. You are all dismissed."

* * *

_That was quite the match._

Re had entered the locker room after their showdown with Team Indigo. His clothes were only a bit dirty and sweaty from the encounter, after all it was just a sparring match, and barely any damage is done in those battles, usually.

Re frowned, _I still feel pretty bad about my last sparring match with Basil, _he thought as he put away his shoulder armor, bracers and Scimitars into the locker, _he said it was his own fault for not paying attention and he was fine after the nurse took care of him, but I still feel a bit responsible for what happened._

The slam of a locker brought Re out of his thoughts. He turned toward the sound to see Wai standing in front of his own locker next to Re's.

"Tough fight, huh Wai?" Re asked, giving Wai a little nudge.

"Yea," Wai replied, a bit of anger evident in his voice.

_Yikes! Must have been really bad on his end, _Re supposed.

Wai would get mad sometimes if something didn't go right in a match or if one of his plans had a flaw that he didn't know how to work around. He even dented his locker after a particular match went south. Usually these fits of anger were few and far between, but when they happened, it was usually quelled quickly after leaving Wai alone for a bit.

"Don't worry," Re assured, giving Wai a pat on the back, "they _are_ a year above us, so they have more fighting experience than we do."

"Not a very good excuse if you ask me," Wai mumbled gruffly.

"Excuse or not, it's the truth," shrugged Re, "anyway, I'm hungry, meet you in the dining hall!"

Re walked toward the door, stomach rumbling in anticipation for dinner.

"Wait."

Re turned to see Wai staring at him with cold blue eyes.

Re frowned; it looked like something was troubling him.

"What's up?" Re inquired, concern for his partner evident in his tone.

"What do you think of your sister's leadership skills?"

_What an odd question,_ pondered Re, _why on Remnant would Wai be interested in that?_

Re shrugged, "I don't know, she can be strict at times, but she ultimately wants what's best for the team."

"Yes, that's off the battlefield," Wai reasoned, slight anger in his voice, "but I mean on the battlefield, what do you think of her then?"

"Well…" began Re, not quite sure what Wai was getting at, "she has good strategies and she's able to get everyone together, even in the middle of the fight."

"What about her listening skills?"

_What? _Re thought, shaking his head.

"Wai, what's this all about? Why are you asking all of these questions?"

"Because our leader had a lot of issues this match, in case you didn't notice."

"Issues?" Re was baffled; usually Sylvia was nearly flawless on and off the battlefield. For Re the fact that Wai thought there were issues was frankly unbelievable.

_There didn't seem to be an issue with her performance today,_ contemplated Re, _but then again maybe Wai noticed something I didn't_.

"Yes issues," continued Wai, "she didn't know her teammates were struggling, she didn't use her knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses to plan our match ups, and she didn't try to listen to any suggestions that I had."

Re gave Wai a warm smile, "Look Wai, it was a tough match, but it was just a match. It's not that big of a deal."

"Well it will be a big deal when we're surrounded by Grimm with an incompetent leader."

Re's face fell into an angry frown. He jabbed a finger in Wai's face.

"Don't you dare talk about Sylvia like that in front of me," Re spoke, a deadly undertone in his voice, "she may have her faults but there is a reason she was picked as leader of our team. She's smart, strong and has a good heart, don't forget that."

Re lowered his hand and walked off with one final note:

"You're a good strategist Wai, but a person has to be much more than that to lead a team."

And with that he left the locker room, leaving Wai to his own thoughts.

_Being leader may mean more than being a strategist, _thought Wai, _but I still don't think that Sylvia possesses those qualities to be a leader._

* * *

Namra sat in the dining hall. She was surrounded by the rest of her teammates, as well as Team Peacock on her right. They had all become pretty good friends during their time at Beacon. Celestia and Aurelia had always been kind to Namra ever since they had protected her from Sylvia the night before initiation. Aurelia was still a bit cold toward Sylvia due to when she accidentally hit Celestia, but no one's perfect.

_I'm sure Aurelia will get over it , _thought Namra as she sipped at her soup, _after all, Sylvia and I got over our differences._

She looked in Sylvia's direction as she chatted with Re about the sparring match with Team Indigo.

_The match was intense; _Namra reflected excitedly, _it certainly got me motivated to become as powerful as them._

She turned toward Wai who was directly in front of her. He was staring menacingly at his spaghetti.

_I guess we all have our own reactions to the fight._

"Wai, you awake in there?" Namra asked.

"Huh?" Wai looked up suddenly at the voice.

"You look like you're trying to bore a whole into your plate. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," he replied curtly.

At this point, Re and Sylvia had turned to join this conversation.

"Something up Wai?" inquired Sylvia.

"Nothing's up," Wai snapped at her.

"Well don't get all huffy with me," retaliated Sylvia, "I'm just trying to make sure my teammates are okay like a good leader should."

Wai's fist clenched. If she didn't know him better, Namra would have thought he was about to punch her. Wanting to defuse the situation, Namra grabbed his attention.

"Look, we just want to know what's wrong. Was it the match? Are you frustrated with how it turned out?"

"Goodwitch told us it was to motivate us to always do our best in class. Did you find that unnecessary? Or were you offended that she thought you were not motivated?" inquired Sylvia.

Wai stood up quickly, almost flipping the table over.

"I came here to eat dinner, not to be berated with stupid irrelevant questions!" he yelled, making most of the students in the dining hall stare at the scene unfolding.

Before any retort could be made against Wai, he turned and stormed out of the dining room.

Sylvia turned to Namra and Re, "Was it something I said?" she asked, concern in her voice.

Namra shook her head, "It's nothing to do with you. I think he's just frustrated at the fact that we lost the match. Give him time, I'm sure he'll calm down."

Re, however, was silent during this conversation, stirring his chowder absentmindedly, not looking at either of them. He almost looked as angry as Wai did.

_Why is he just sitting there? _Namra thought_,_ _does he maybe know more than he's telling us?_

Namra decided not to push the issue, as she was sure that if Re wanted to say something he would have said it already. Instead, they just sat there and ate there food in silence, wondering why their friend was acting like this.

* * *

POOMP!

Wai hit the punching bag again as he tried to figure out exactly how he was feeling right now. The impacts of his fists echoed through the gym. Only a few people were there besides him, a blonde girl also at a punching bag, a brunette with red highlights on a treadmill, and two male figures that he couldn't make out. Wai was dressed in a white tank top and black baggy pants. Barefooted, he paced back and forth in front of the bag, breaking from his stream of punches.

Sweat poured over his well-toned muscles as he continued to work the bag, trying to let out any emotional confusion with his fists. He hoped that maybe working the bag would help to clear his mind, but so far it was not working.

_She's a horrible leader. She cares. She doesn't pay attention though. She's trying. She's not._

_ I'm not cut out. I'm perfectly fine. I won't be able to protect them. I can do this. No I can't._

But there was one thought that was clear and had no conflicted feelings accompanied with it:

_I hate that grey haired kid. He's cocky and disrespectful. Holding his sword to Sylvia's throat was completely unnecessary and rude._

His punches started to become more and more forceful.

_Stupid. Rude. Uppity. Little. Brat._

He punched the bag with all his might, causing the whole bag to nearly come off its chain. Wai took a few deep breaths while the bag swung back and forth for a bit. He wiped the sweat off his brow before taking a swig from his water bottle. When he finished he saw the gym door open and the grey haired boy walked in with his dirty blonde teammate. They were also dressed in workout clothes, the blonde in a yellow shirt and black shorts and the grey kid in an off-white tank top and grey sweatpants. The two of them walked up to the sparring mat and prepared for hand to hand combat.

More anger rose up in Wai at the sight of the grey haired guy, but he ignored them, wanting to focus more on the punching bag. As he continued, he overheard the conversation between the blonde and the grey kid.

"So she didn't study and she still got a B on the exam?" asked the grey kid.

"Yea! I'm telling you, Carissa is really good at retaining information in class, even without writing it down!" replied the blond, "And it certainly pisses off Orchid, she studies so much for everything and then Carissa just goes in and gets a B without studying."

"She really should study," commented the grey haired kid, "she may have gotten a B this time, but next time could be different."

"Come on Icarius," reasoned the blond boy as he took a swig from his water bottle, "give her a break. You're always giving her a hard time about that, but she always does fine using her own methods."

They both took stances preparing to spar.

"All I'm saying is that you should let her use her own method, as long as it works," finished the blond kid.

"Look Guilford," replied Icarius, "I'm the leader of our team, I'll decide how to lead it."

With that they began to spar. Icarius was certainly taller than Guilford, but Guilford had more muscle mass. The two traded blows back and forth, pretty evenly matched as they sparred. Wai watched them for a bit longer before going back to his punching bag.

A few minutes went by and Wai finally felt satisfied with his workout. Sweat still glistening on his arms and forehead; he took a drink of water when he overheard the two talking again.

"So what did you think about the match earlier today?" asked Icarius as he blocked a punch to his stomach.

Wai put his drink down and listened intently. Normally he would have ignored the conversation they were having, but he wanted to know what impression they had made on the upperclassmen.

_Besides,_ thought Wai, _I want to see if Icarius is as much a jerk as I thought._

"I thought they fought well," replied Guilford, "We may have won today, but I'm sure with another year or two under their belts they could beat us."

Wai cracked a slight smile at that, appreciating the compliment from Guilford.

Icarius laughed, "Really?" he asked, "Is that what you really think?"

Wai frowned at this, anger starting to swell up from the grey boy's attitude.

"Yes," replied Guilford, "the ending call made by their leader may have been questionable, but overall they performed well."

Icarius chuckled again, "Well, you must not have seen all of the fight, because they were struggling against us the entire time. The end call made by their leader was merely the end result of their poor performance."

Anger flooded over Wai as he continued to listen to this guy bash his team's performance.

"What about the silver haired girl you were fighting?" asked Guilford, "She seemed to hold her own against you."

"Please," Icarius replied, "I took it easy on her; she wasn't worth any of my skills. How on Remnant she got into this school is a mystery to me, never mind the fact that she became leader of a team. She and her team don't deserve to be at this school."

That was the last straw. Wai walked away from the bag and towards the sparring mat.

"You should watch what you say," Wai declared through gritted teeth, "you never know who could be listening."

Icarius looked at Wai and laughed, "Aww are you butt hurt about what I said? I guess it's true, the truth really does hurt."

Wai walked onto the mat and took a stance. He was not going to let this punk get away with saying such things about his teammates.

"You. Me. Right now."

Icarius laughed again, "Go back to your dorm already," he said, still chuckling, "you're not worth my time. Maybe one day you'll be slightly better than you are now, but I doubt it."

Wai had had enough. He charged forward quickly, slamming his fist into Icarius' side. He was sent tumbling to his right and onto the mat. He got up swiftly as Guilford moved in front of him to fight Wai.

"No," Icarius commanded, steel in his voice, "he's mine."

Guilford walked off, as Icarius readied himself.

The entire room had gone quiet as they watched the two students circle around on the mat. As they stared each other down, Wai's mind worked furiously as he analyzed his situation.

_He's taller than me, giving him the height advantage. He's also lighter, making him more agile. But I'm stronger and more versatile, which makes it easier to defend against him._

Wai's blue eyes stared at Icarius' cold grey eyes, trying to anticipate his first move.

_I'll have to be careful though; he has more experience in combat than I do._

Icarius continued to circle around the mat as they each waited for the other to make the first move. Tension filled the air as the room waited for the battle to start.

Finally, Icarius lunged at his opponent, jumping and launching a spin kick to Wai's right side. Unable to move out of the way, he blocked the kick with his right arm, and readied a counter attack. Icarius landed back on the mat and jumped away from Wai. As Icarius got back in his stance, Wai had reached him. He launched his right fist directly at Icarius' face. Icarius grinned and then deftly dodged out of the way, stepping to Wai's left side. He then delivered a swift kick to Wai's side. Wai recoiled from the attack and turned to face his opponent. Icarius then charged again, delivering another jumping spin kick. Once again, Wai blocked it with his right arm, taking minimal damage. Icarius, once again, jumped away, distancing himself from Wai.

Wai grew frustrated at his inability to hit him, as they continued to repeat the process a few more times, with Wai missing a punch, receiving a side kick and then blocking a spin kick.

_Come on,_ thought Wai, _there's gotta be a way to hit this guy._

After blocking another spin kick, Icarius changed it up. Instead of jumping away, he spun back around, delivering a second kick with his left foot towards Wai's head. Seeing the sudden change, Wai ducked under the second kick and followed it up with a left handed jab to Icarius' lower back. He then swung a right hook toward the same spot, dealing as much damage as he could, until Icarius rolled away. Standing back up, Icarius faced Wai again.

"You'll have to do better than that against me," he taunted.

Frustrated by his taunt, Wai charged at Icarius against his better judgment. Icarius merely sidestepped out of the way of Wai's fist and delivered a punch to his ribs. Regretting his decision, Wai quickly moved out of the way, but Icarius followed him throwing quick jabs at his opponent. Wai put his arms up and blocked the incoming jabs. Fortunately, he prevented most of the damage coming at him, but this was not a position that Wai wanted to be in.

_I gotta figure out a way out of this._

Icarius sent a roundhouse kick toward Wai's left side. Wai moved his arms and blocked the kick. Then Wai got an idea. Wai grabbed Icarius' foot and elbowed him right in the stomach. Icarius stumbled back from the blow as Wai proceeded to kick Icarius square in the face, sending him backwards, and landing flat on his back. Icarius jumped back up and took up his stance again.

"Lucky shot."

Once again Icarius charged. Wai began to run at him as well, hoping his weight would topple Icarius over. However, at the last second before impact, Icarius sidestepped and tripped Wai. He was sent tumbling into the mat, landing on his stomach. Wai slowly stood up and turned toward Icarius, but was greeted by Icarius' fist in his face, knocking him right back down to the ground. Wai just lay there, exhausted and in pain.

"Pathetic," Icarius spoke, "it's no surprise though. You and that silver haired girl are perfect for each other; you're both just as weak."

Wai's anger flared inside him. He quickly stood up and faced Icarius. His eyes had turned bright red and he was surrounded by a red aura. He rarely felt this much rage before, and he quickly struck.

Icarius barely dodged out of the way, as Wai's fist swung at where he was. Icarius went back to his stance and swung a roundhouse kick at Wai's head. However, the kick was blocked by Wai's arm almost instantaneously. Before Icarius could react, Wai stepped forward and smashed his fist straight into Icarius' face. The punch set him reeling, nearly falling off the mat. Icarius rolled off the mat to face his opponent again. But instead of seeing Wai, all he saw was a foot as Wai delivered a kick to Icarius' chest. He was then sent crashing into a weight rack, breaking the rack upon impact. Icarius was visibly shaken and taken aback by both the power and speed of Wai. At this point the crowd was panicking, and some started to flee after seeing this display of aggression that Wai showed. Icarius looked up again, to see Wai charging again.

Before Wai could strike, Guilford grabbed him from behind, trying to restrain him.

"Let go of me!" Wai yelled, struggling to break free, "He insulted me and my team! Nobody does that and gets away with it!"

With that, Wai delivered a powerful kick to Guilford's thigh, getting the boy to let go. He then provided with another kick to the blond's chest, sending him to the other side of the mat. Wai then proceeded toward Icarius, picking him up by his tank top and threw him back onto the mat. He then approached Icarius, red aura still glowing around him. Icarius lay on the ground, beaten and bruised by the fight, clearly the worse for wear. But the rage inside Wai was not satisfied; he picked Icarius up by the throat and lifted him up.

"Wai stop!"

Wai turned to see Sylvia and Namra in the doorway of the gym. Before he could respond, he felt a kick hit his side. Crying out, Wai dropped Icarius into a crumpled heap, and turned to see Re wearing his red hoodie and standing in a fighting pose. This was a mistake, as now Wai's rage was focused on Re. Wai charged and delivered a powerful punch to Re's head. Thankfully Re blocked the punch in time, but was surprised at the force of the punch. Before he knew it, Wai had delivered a kick to Re's side, sending him tumbling to the mat. Wai then got ready to charge again.

Suddenly, Sylvia grabbed his arm.

"Wai stop it!" she shouted again.

Turning towards Sylvia he delivered a punch toward Sylvia with his free hand. But Sylvia was actually quicker, as she dodged the punch, ducking down and grabbing his other arm. Using his momentum to her favor, Sylvia then threw Wai to the ground behind her. The shock of the ground snapped him out of his rage quickly. The red aura dissipated as well as the red from his eyes. He looked up to see Sylvia standing over him, a fist out stretched, ready to knock him out if he tried anything. Wai put his hands up to show that he was good, and got up. He looked around and saw everything he had done. Icarius was in a crumpled heap, with Guilford hanging over him. Re was getting up, not a scratch on him thankfully. Still frustrated with the day's events, Wai grabbed his stuff and walked out of the gym.

* * *

"What were you thinking?!"

They were all back in their dorm room. Wai was sitting on his bed with Namra on the bed to his right. Sylvia was standing up, arms crossed and a stern expression written on her face. Re was leaning against a wall; his expression was unreadable as he stared at Wai.

_He knows that I don't think Sylvia is a good leader,_ Wai pondered; _he probably wants me to tell her the truth and start talking about what's wrong. Should I?_

"Well?" asked Sylvia again, fury in her eyes.

Wai turned to face Sylvia, "It was a simple sparring match," he responded simply.

This did not resonate well with Sylvia.

"A simple sparring match!" yelled Sylvia, "Wai you nearly killed him!"

"Yea, well maybe he had it coming," Wai retorted, anger in his voice as he thought back on Icarius' attitude.

"Listen to yourself!" Sylvia cried, "What on Remnant could he have possibly done to justify nearly killing him?"

Wai looked away; anger filled him as he recounted what Icarius had said about Sylvia and the team. 'How on Remnant she got into this school is a mystery to me.' 'She and her team don't deserve to be at this school.'

"Well? Tell me? What could he have possibly said to make you do that?"

"He insulted me," Wai said through gritted teeth.

_If she thinks it was just about me, I won't have to explain everything that's been going on, _reasoned Wai, _plus I don't want them to know what he said about them._

Sylvia nearly exploded over this information.

"You nearly killed someone because they called you something you didn't like?!" she shouted, making everyone flinch at her words, "Wai you can't just lash out at anyone who thinks you're scum!"

"It was more than that…" Wai trailed off as he received her verbal beating.

"Oh really?!" Sylvia shouted, her hands moving as she reprimanded him, "It was more than that? Well please enlighten us as to what exactly it was!"

"I can't tell you," Wai stated, hoping she wouldn't push it.

"You can't tell us," Sylvia said exasperatedly her hands falling to her side, "you know Wai I thought you were a nice quiet kid, but I guess I was wrong. You're childish, hot-headed, and don't care about anybody but yourself!" Sylvia's voice started to rise again as she continued, "Wake up Wai and realize the world isn't about you!"

_That's it!_ Wai didn't want to tell Sylvia what had actually pissed him off, but he wasn't going to sit here and be called selfish for it.

Wai stood up, "Fine!" he yelled back at Sylvia, "You wanna know why I fought him? You want to know why I nearly killed him?!"

Wai's eyes pierced Sylvia's as he stared at her in a rage, "I fought him because he insulted our team! I fought him because he insulted my friends! But mostly I fought him because he insulted you, our leader!"

When Wai finished, he stood in the silence that he had caused. He looked at Sylvia, who had been taken aback by his words. He looked into her green eyes, seeing her trying to process this new information. She closed them as she continued to think.

Finally she took a deep breath and spoke:

"Look, Wai, I know what you're saying. And I understand why you were angry, but you can't just pick a fight with anybody who decides to insult us. There are people out there who'll think we aren't good enough, but we can't let those people discourage us."

"Yea I know that, but the worst thing was, I agreed with him."

Once again, Sylvia was taken aback, confused by what he had said.

"What?"

Wai looked away from Sylvia, "Ever since the match against Team Indigo, I've come to the conclusion that you're not a good leader. In battles you only focus on your opponent, you lack the analytical mind to make a good strategy, and-"

"Excuse me?!"

Wai looked at Sylvia and saw anger in her eyes.

"How dare you accuse me of not being a good leader!" she bellowed, "I always make sure that my teammates are alright and my mind is analytical enough to come up with good strategies! Also, the match against Team Indigo was supposed to show what an upper-class team can do, we weren't supposed to win that fight!"

"It's not even about the fight today; it's every team fight we've had. I've noticed these things over several battles and not just today's," Wai's voice was increasingly rising as he spoke, "against Team Peacock, Team Ruby, and Team Juniper. You never listen when other people have ideas that might be better than yours."

"So what, you think you'd be a better leader?"

"Well…"

"You think that you could handle the pressure of having to make every decision on and off the battlefield for the better of the team? You think you can notice every little detail on the battlefield?"

"I don't…"

"Do you think you can be selfless for longer than two seconds?"

Wai flared up once again, "You know what? Yes! I know for a fact that I could be twice the leader that you are! I would be a way better leader than you will ever be!"

Re moved in front of Sylvia as a flash of red aura emanated from Wai's body. He looked at Re and saw defiance in his face, saw concern for both him and her, saw slight anger and confusion at the situation. But most of all he saw fear in those eyes, fear of Wai.

A mixture of feelings rose up in Wai. He had seen those eyes before, long ago. Confused and frustrated, he pushed past Re and Sylvia and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

It was getting darker in the library as the sun set outside. Wai was sitting at a mahogany table near the window, trying to use the last of the light to study for an upcoming exam. He stared down at the book, the dying light of the sunset hitting his body, casting a shadow over the page he had been reading for the past half-hour. The words might as well have been in a different language, as Wai's brain couldn't process nor comprehend what he was reading.

_That look, I've seen it before,_ thought Wai as he reflected back on the look that Re had given him.

He remembered back to the dream he kept having for the past few months. It had changed since the first time he had had it; he was running through a dark forest, pursued by a floating hooded figure. Deciding to fight, he turned on the hooded figure and fired a grenade at the figure, causing it to vanish. Extending his swords, he started swinging at the figure as it reappeared and disappeared. The figure fired blasts of some form of energy at him, connecting and throwing him into a tree. The roots pinned him to the ground and Wai struggled against them. The hooded figure approached him and said something, Wai always forgot what, but the end result was the same. Wai's anger flared up, his eyes turned red and a red aura surrounded him and he broke free of the roots and renewed his attacks against the figure. After a bitter struggle, Wai stabbed the figure and watched in horror as the figures hood fell, revealing the figures face. Each time it was one of his teammates, Sylvia, Re, or Namra. Each wore a face of fear and pain, similar to the look that Re had given him back in the dorm.

Wai looked up from his book and turned around to look at the sunset, _I don't want to ever cause any of them pain, but how can I promise to keep them safe from myself._

Wai curled his hands into fists; _I wish I hadn't gone to Sanctum. I wish I hadn't decided to become a huntsman. Things would've been much better off._

The thought of Sanctum brought up another part of his recurring nightmare. There was one other person whom the hooded figure became. A boy of merely thirteen years old, with jet black hair and dark brown, nearly black, eyes would stare up at him, a nearly blank expression on his face. He would stare blankly into Wai's face and always said the same phrase to him.

"Don't…forget…"

Wai's eyes watered and he hastily wiped them.

"There you are."

Wai whipped around to see Namra standing across from him in her beacon uniform. She walked toward the table as she continued to speak.

"You know, it's really hard to have a conversation with you if you storm out of the room," Namra pointed out.

Wai stood up from his seat and stared at Namra's face.

"There was nothing to talk about," Wai replied simply.

"Nothing to talk about?" Namra asked skeptically, "Wai, you and I both know what happened in the training room."

"I…" Wai paused as he processed what she had just said, "wait, what do you mean both of us?"

"Hello? My semblance allows me to see energy remember?" Namra stated, "Your energy in that fight was much different from normal, you clearly weren't yourself."

Namra crossed her arms, "Am I wrong?"

Wai hung his head and turned back toward the window and the setting sun, "You're not," he replied ashamedly.

Namra smiled slightly at her progress, but it quickly faded as she continued, "With that in mind, why were you like that? It seemed like you were someone completely different."

Wai hesitated as he watched the sun descend further to the skyline.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Namra frowned, "Why not?"

"It's best kept under wraps," he explained, "It's a part of me that I don't want any of you to know."

Namra uncrossed her arms. She started to walk toward and Wai and put her hand on his shoulder.

"I understand what you mean," Namra replied, "more than you know. But you don't have to say anything about it. You just have to apologize to Sylvia and Re. Just talk with them, make everything better, just-"

"Namra," Wai interrupted, "Stop."

The library was silent for a few moments before Wai spoke again.

"I'm not going back."

Namra stood there, confused by his statement. She removed her hand from his shoulder.

"So, you're gonna sleep here and mull things over? I mean I'm sure Sylvia will let you-"

"No Namra," Wai interjected again, "I mean I'm leaving Beacon. I'm leaving the team."

A heavy silence fell as Namra took in Wai's words.

"But…" Namra started but couldn't finish her sentence.

"You're all in danger with me around; you saw what I almost did to Icarius. I couldn't live with myself if I did that to any of you."

"But…you don't have to leave," continued Namra, "You can stay here, work things out with Sylvia. Be extra careful. You can-"

"Namra, please," Wai spoke, his voice cracking, "it's hard enough to make this decision as is. But it's the best for everyone if I leave. Just trust me."

They stood in another heavy silence. Tears began to fall down Wai's face as he waited for his friend to respond.

_Just leave, _Wai pleaded in his head, _just leave me here, and make it easier for me to leave this all behind._

Something collided with Wai's body and he felt Namra's arms wrap around his body. Her head buried into the middle of his back.

"Please don't leave," she pleaded, her voice muffled, "I don't want to lose you…"

Wai closed his eyes, but he did not reciprocate the hug. He had to let go.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in a controlled voice.

After a pause, he felt Namra slowly release him from her hug. She turned away from Wai and walked away from him and toward the library's exit, leaving Wai in his misery.

Wai stood there, taking in the decision that he had just made, wondering if he could really leave everybody behind.

_I have to,_ he reasoned with himself, _even if I don't want to, it's for the best._

* * *

The door opened, it was dark and quiet, just as Wai had expected. It was night time and everybody was lying in their beds as the moon shown against the closed curtains. He could hear the steady breathing of his teammates showing that they were definitely asleep.

_Good,_ thought Wai, _That'll make this much easier._

He listened intently, making sure he hadn't woken anybody up. Satisfied that he hadn't, he moved over to his luggage. He packed silently, put his blue leather jacket over his white shirt, put on his boots and walked out of the room. He closed the door, taking one last look at his sleeping teammates, the ones he had bonded with over the past couple months, the ones who he had had great memories with, his true friends.

Wai shook his head, _No, it's better off this way._

He walked through the empty halls, hoping that he didn't run into anybody on the way to the front doors. Luckily, he reached the doors without any incident. He took a deep breath, mustered up what courage he could, and opened the doors. The cool air hit his face as he took a step forward into the night. As he took another step, he couldn't help but second guess his decision.

_Do I really need to do this? Will leaving the team really solve this?_

Wai turned back toward the entrance to Beacon. He didn't want to leave; this is where he met his greatest friends. This is where he and Re had tried to prank team Cardinal. This is where he had made so many great memories.

_Why not stay?_

Wai shook his head, "I can't stay," he said to himself, "I'll only be putting them in danger."

"Do you really believe that?"

Wai whipped around to see Professor Ozpin. He stood there in his usual attire, his cane in his left hand.

"Professor Ozpin," Wai spoke, trying to collect himself, "what are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, calmly, "but I already know why."

Wai hung his head, slightly shameful that he had been caught leaving by the headmaster of Beacon.

"Wai."

Wai raised his head as the headmaster addressed him.

"I understand that there has been some tension among you and your teammates lately," Ozpin continued, "would you like to tell me why?"

Wai averted his gaze from Ozpin. He didn't want to discuss the issue with his headmaster, but Wai figured that Ozpin probably already knew what was going on.

"It's Sylvia."

A moment of silence passed between them as Ozpin waited for Wai to continue.

"She's rash, hot-headed, and inexperienced. She doesn't know how to formulate a working plan and she doesn't listen to other people's suggestions during battle."

Another pause waned on as Ozpin clicked his cane slightly on the pavement.

"I see," Ozpin replied, "so you think you'd be a better leader in her place?"

Once again that question floated around in his head. _Do I really think I'd be a better leader than Sylvia?_

"No," Wai realized and he looked at Ozpin, whose head was tilted in curiosity.

"Why not?"

"Because for what she lacks in, she makes up for it by trying harder than any of us. She is always working and training us to be better than we are. She cares about every single one of us and shows it by working so hard to improve us. Every time I go into our dorm, she's either working on classes, or training regimens for all of us. While she may not be able to formulate a plan in the middle of battle, or know when to listen to other people, she makes up for all of it through her determination to make all of us infinitely better."

Wai stopped and looked at Ozpin for a reaction.

"I see," he responded after some time, "it seems that you have a lot of respect for her then."

Wai nodded, "More than I can articulate. Which is why I regret ever doubting her today, and why I regret everything I said to her after the battle."

Once again Wai paused. The cool air brushed against his face, almost comforting him.

"Sure she's wasn't top form today, but I know for a fact that she'll work even harder to push past her bad days."

Ozpin nodded in agreement. He had seen their team grow and prosper with her as their leader. She put them through every rigorous test that she could find, even ones that Ozpin had never thought of. Work outs, spars, she even had them trade weapons once so that they would understand what their teammates had to work with.

Ozpin smiled, "And I'm sure that your teammates hold her in such high admiration as well. However, what I can't understand is why you would leave. If you hold that much respect for someone, despite what you've said, you should stay and try to make it up to her."

Wai hesitated, _He's right, I should. It makes the most sense, especially considering I regret what I said._

"But something else is stopping you, am I correct?"

Wai looked at Ozpin again, but then quickly looked away as he remembered the real reason why he was leaving.

"There was an incident in the sparring room today wasn't there?"

Wai met the headmaster's gaze, "How did you-"

"Believe me it's not hard to hear about it considering the spread of gossip throughout this school," Ozpin noted with a chuckle, "however; I first learned it because I've been keeping a close eye on you."

Now it was Wai's turn to look curious, "A close eye on me? Why?"

"For the very same reason actually," remarked the headmaster, "When you applied to this school, you passed the entrance exam with flying colors. However, when it came to your transcript, it was a different story."

Wai looked at the ground, knowing what his transcript had said.

"Only two and half years of combat training at Sanctum Academy, kicked out due to an uncontrollable and dangerous semblance."

Ozpin clicked his cane against the ground as he turned toward the school.

"Glynda wanted me to reject you immediately after seeing that on your transcript, but I stood firm, saying that you had passed the entrance exam and should be allowed to enroll at Beacon. She suggested that I should keep an eye on you in that case, which I did. I've had you monitored ever since you entered this school by our staff, each of whom were ready to respond in case something went wrong. In fact, they were about to intervene with your fight with Icarius, but your friends stopped you first."

He turned back to Wai, who was staring at Ozpin, "It's a good thing I did, otherwise I wouldn't have known that you were trying to leave school."

"Yea well even you can't stop me," Wai said, trying to be firm, "It's true, my semblance activated again and I nearly hurt my friends. I won't stay here if it's a risk to their well-being."

With that, Wai turned and walked away from the school, carrying his luggage with him.

"And what about your teammates? You're not going to at least say goodbye to them? Maybe explain the situation?" Ozpin asked his voice still calm and collected.

Wai stopped walking.

"What's the point? If anything that would make leaving harder. It's better that I just leave without them trying to convince me to stay," Wai responded in a low tone.

"I see your point," Ozpin stated, "it's easy to leave people behind when you don't have to see their reactions."

"Easy?" Wai turned around, "You think this is easy for me?" He growled angrily.

"That doesn't mean this is easy for me," Wai yelled out angrily, "do you really think I want to leave my teammates and friends because of this? Well I don't."

"Then don't," Ozpin said plainly.

"But I have to!" Wai cried out, "You saw what happened in the training room. You've been keeping an eye on me specifically to know if something like that happened. You've seen the kind of damage I can do, you know why I have to leave."

"I don't think you should leave."

"Why on Remnant not?"

"Let me start by asking you a question," Ozpin started, "why did you leave the first time?"

Wai was confused by the question, "Why? Because I was expelled, I had no choice."

"Exactly," declared Ozpin, "You weren't given a choice, but you had a choice afterwards. Now tell me where did you go after you were expelled?"

Wai was puzzled.

_Why is he asking these questions?_

"Well I went home and decided to teach myself combat," Wai humored his gray haired headmaster, "After about a year, I applied to Beacon Academy so that I can continue my dream of protecting the world from the Grimm."

Ozpin nodded, "Yes, that makes perfect sense. After all, it is your dream. Now you are also left with a choice, and what did you choose?"

"What do you mean?" Wai inquired frustrated with his headmaster, "Professor, I have to leave; otherwise my friends are in danger from me."

"But you see, that's what I find so weird," Ozpin remarked.

Wai lost his temper, "What are you talking about?!" he yelled, "How is this weird?! It's perfectly logical; I have to leave to keep my friends safe!"

Wai turned away from Professor Ozpin, "I have no choice."

"But you do," Ozpin responded.

Wai turned around to speak again, but Ozpin held up a hand and stopped him.

"Just hear me out Wai," Ozpin began.

Wai let out a breath and signaled for him to continue, begrudgingly.

"Here's the thing. You had no choice last time; because you were expelled after the event had occurred, preventing you from completing your four years. To make up for that, you trained for a year and then applied to my school to continue your goal of becoming a huntsman. And from the sound of it, you have a lot of respect for your leader and I'm assuming your other teammates as well."

Ozpin looked at Wai who nodded in confirmation.

"And you have also made several friends during your time here at Beacon, some of whom are your teammates. If this is truly the case, why would you leave? It seems that you have everything that you would want here. You're following your dream, you have good friends, and you have teammates who are amazing."

Ozpin put a hand to his chest, "I'm not expelling you for the fight today, because I believe that you have potential, and anyone who has potential deserves the chance to attend this school. With that in mind, why would you let this deter you from your dreams, your teammates, and your friends? If they really are as great as you say, wouldn't they be willing to help you out if you just explained the situation?"

Wai looked down, "I…well…"

He couldn't form a response to Ozpin's questions. Everything Ozpin had said made perfect sense to him, but still…

"Now let me ask you this last question."

Wai looked up, staring into his headmaster's blank face.

"If you hadn't been expelled from your last school, would you have left your old friends behind?"

Wai thought about this for a while, thought back to his friends at Sanctum and how they had reacted to his semblance. About what he had done.

"Yes," he said nodding his head.

Ozpin had not been expecting this answer, and he looked intently at Wai, curious as to what the boy was going to say.

"After what had happened, they all treated me like a monster; they shunned me like I was a wild Grimm. Even if I hadn't been expelled, I would have left of my own accord. I wouldn't have been able to deal with my friends treating me that way."

Wai looked up at Beacon and smiled, "That's why I came here, to get away from any past that I had back in Mistral. I wanted to start with a clean slate. New people, new teachers, new friends."

Ozpin nodded in agreement, understanding Wai's reasons for wanting to go to Beacon rather than to Haven in Mistral, "Yet, your friends took it differently this time. Otherwise you wouldn't be speaking so highly of them right now."

Wai nodded, "They wanted to try and understand what had happened. Not about the semblance though, they just wanted to know why I fought Icarius. They were angry, sure, but it wasn't because they thought I was a monster, they were just concerned about why I was acting that way. They were worried about me, and that was it."

Wai sighed, "They only asked for an explanation, and I only gave them half of the story."

He picked up his luggage and started walking toward Professor Ozpin.

"Thank you," he spoke softly.

Ozpin just smiled and stepped aside to let Wai pass.

He entered his dorm. Everyone was still asleep in their beds as he put back his luggage, changed into a white tank-top and some black shorts, and climbed into bed.

_Tomorrow, I'll apologize and explain everything, like I should've done from the start. And my friends should be safe considering there are people ready to interfere if something should go wrong._

Wai turned over and closed his eyes. As he fell into his dream world only one thought entered his mind.

_Friends trust each other..._


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Notes: Hello there, sorry it took so long to post this chapter, it took a while to right it all up as it is directly tied to the previous chapter.**

What It Takes

Chapter 12: And Peace

"You alright Sylvia?"

Sylvia had been staring off into space for a long time at her locker. She was thinking about the fight with Team Indigo that they had just had. She turned to see Namra next to her.

"I'm fine," replied Sylvia, "just thinking about the match."

"Oh, I see," realized Namra, "don't take it too harshly. Team Indigo is at a much higher level than us."

Sylvia smiled at her friend, "I'm not taking the outcome harshly, I'm actually quite happy about how we did. The whole point of the battle was to show what a higher level team could do, we weren't meant to win that fight."

Namra paused to think about what Sylvia had said, "Yea, I suppose you're right. Either way, we should make sure we're prepared for next time."

Sylvia's smile broadened, "Definitely," she replied, "no breaks in training this time."

Sylvia closed her locker and walked out with Namra.

"Well, it's just about 6 o'clock," commented Sylvia looking at her scroll, "wanna gather the others for dinner?"

"Sure," responded Namra in her usual mellow tone and they headed out of the locker room and toward the dining hall, as Sylvia contacted Team Peacock and the rest of her own team for dinner.

"So, what were some issues you were having with that fight?" asked Sylvia, already planning for training.

"The pink-haired girl was extremely fast and hard to keep up with," replied Namra as she recalled her part of the fight, "Every time I tried to keep her at a distance with my blades she seemed to slip straight past them."

"Hmm…" pondered Sylvia, "maybe we should train more on your reaction times."

As she continued to contemplate more about what they could improve, Re came up behind them and put his arms around their shoulders, grinning from ear to ear.

"So," Re started, "heard we were getting dinner."

"Yes," answered Sylvia, "also Re we need to work on your endurance, you need to be able to keep stronger opponents at bay."

"Oh come on Sylvia," complained Re, "we worked so hard today, can't we take a break for once?"

"Re you had a break all day yesterday," Sylvia pointed out taking his arm off her shoulder, "and besides, you promised me you would work harder at Beacon than you did at Signal."

"Well…I guess you have a point there," Re conceded rubbing the back of his head, "but this weekend, we're gonna relax more, unless you forgot that _you_ also promised to relax more."

"Fine," Sylvia stated, "where's Wai?"

Re's face seemed to fall slightly at those words as he continued to rub the back of his head, "He's at his locker. He'll meet us in the dining hall."

Sylvia frowned. _What's up with Re? His smile nearly faded at the mention of Wai, _she thought, _did something happen in the locker room?_

"So, we gonna eat or what?" asked Namra, "I'm hungry."

Re's smile returned full force, "Yea let's go before the good food is taken!"

Re and Namra quickened their pace as Sylvia stayed back a bit, thinking about what she had seen.

_Re's usually very happy, which he was,_ pondered Sylvia, _why would he act that way when I merely mentioned Wai's name? Did they just have an argument? … But they get along so well._

Sylvia shook her head, _I'll ask about it later. It may be just a slight disagreement that I can settle quickly. I am team leader after all._

And with that she headed off to catch up with her friends for dinner.

"Was it something I said?" asked Sylvia, concern in her voice.

They had all been eating dinner peacefully together with Team Peacock when Namra and Wai started talking. The conversation had perked Sylvia's curiosity when Namra mentioned something being wrong with Wai. However, when she got involved with the conversation, Wai had stormed out of the dining hall.

Namra shook her head, "It's nothing to do with you. I think he's just frustrated at the fact that he lost the match. Give him time, I'm sure he'll calm down."

"Alright," she said, still concerned with her teammates' well-being.

Re sat there quietly, eating his soup without saying a word, which was also odd.

_He's usually very lively at the dinner table, I wonder what's on his mind, _wondered Sylvia.

And then she thought back to earlier, when his face had fallen when she mentioned Wai's name after the match.

_Maybe they did have a fight,_ thought Sylvia.

Wanting to help her brother and teammate, she turned to Re.

"You alright?" She inquired, her green eyes staring intently at Re.

"Hmm?" Re asked surprised by the question, "Yea, yea I'm fine," and he went back to his soup.

Sylvia wasn't buying it, "You sure? Cause the Re I know is much livelier at the table than this. Seriously, you look like someone just died."

Re chuckled slightly at her joke, "Look, I'm just tired from the match against Team Indigo today. A little bit of rest and I'll be back to my old self."

And with that he smiled brightly at her, and went back to eating his soup, as if that had settled the matter.

_Well I guess that's all I'm getting out of him,_ Sylvia realized, _However I highly doubt the match is all that's bothering him._

Sylvia turned back to her food and started to polish off her own dinner, she was famished after all.

_I'll ask him more about it tomorrow if he wants to talk about_.

She sighed, exhausted and worried; _I can't help but feel like Wai getting mad is partially my fault. Maybe I pushed too hard or something. I'll have to make a mental note to apologize to him._

Normally she wasn't the type to apologize, but hanging around her new friends had changed her and made her more sympathetic.

_Well, I'm sure this will all blow over tomorrow, _hoped Sylvia, _after all we are good friends._

"I just don't understand."

Sylvia and Re were heading back to the library after just finishing dinner. Namra had left early to go back to the dorm, said she 'wasn't feeling well.'

"What _I_ don't understand," commented Re, "is why we're going to the library instead of back to the dorm."

"Re this is serious!" exclaimed Syliva.

"I know," replied Re, moving his arms behind his head, "I'm gonna be missing some major relaxation time."

"Re!"

"Okay!" Re put his hands up, showing he was done making jokes, "what don't you understand?"

"Wai! He was completely silent during dinner and then abruptly left when we were asking what was wrong. Why would he do that?"

Re shrugged, putting his hands into the pockets of his red hoodie, "Probably not worth looking into. Let him deal with his own problems. I'm sure he'll be fine by tomorrow."

Sylvia scowled. It was not like Re to blow off someone's problems, especially a friend's.

"And then there's you."

"Me?" Re asked, surprised.

"Yes you. You were completely docile at the dinner table, you shied away when I asked you where Wai was, and," Sylvia raised a finger to emphasize her next point, "you just dismissed his problems as something insignificant. The Re I know would never do that to a friend."

Re looked away as they continued to walk down the hall, "Yea well maybe this time is different."

Sylvia jumped in front of Re, stopping his movement down the hallway. She glared at him, arms crossed, "Re what's going?"

"Nothing's going on," Re stated, putting his hands up in front of him.

Sylvia's glare changed into a skeptical look, arms still crossed. She waited there until Re finally came clean:

"Okay," Re conceded, "I talked to Wai in the locker room and I know what's been bothering him."

"And what might that be?" asked Sylvia, remaining in her position, "did you two have a fight?"

"No," Re replied as he scratched the back of his head, "well, yes, kind of."

"What do you mean?"

"Look Sylvia, now's not the time. Let's talk about it later."

"No," Sylvia demanded, "we are gonna talk about it right now."

Suddenly, a boy turned the corner and slammed straight into Sylvia.

"Sorry," the boy apologized.

Sylvia's anger flared up.

"What were you thinking?!" she yelled, "What were you doing running down the hall?!"

"I was just trying to get away from the gym," the boy stated, fear still evident on his face.

Sylvia's anger quickly turned into curiosity, "Get away? From what?"

"The blue haired kid," the boy replied, "he's gone crazy."

Sylvia turned to Re. They both exchanged a look of concern and nodded. They took off towards the gym. As they reached the door, they saw Namra standing at the entrance to the gym.

"Namra? What are you doing here?" Sylvia inquired.

"I went looking for Wai," she said plainly without looking in her direction, "you better see this."

Sylvia and Re ran towards the door and saw the horror that awaited them.

Wai was standing on a matt in the middle of the room. He had a blazing red aura surrounding him and in his hand he was holding the leader of Team Indigo by the neck, lifting him off the ground, looking like he was about to choke him.

Re immediately, dashed in to stop him as Sylvia cried out:

"Wai stop!"

Wai turned and Sylvia's green eyes met bright, piercing, red eyes filled with the utmost rage and hatred. The stare didn't last long, however, as Re kicked Wai's side, causing him to drop his victim and turn to face Re.

To Sylvia's utter shock, Wai attacked Re, delivering a punch, which Re blocked, and then a kick that sent him tumbling to the mat. As Wai got ready to charge him, Sylvia took action.

She ran up and grabbed Wai's arm.

"Wai stop it!" she shouted again.

Once again her gaze met Wai's as he tried to punch Sylvia with his free hand. Luckily, Sylvia was faster and dodged the punch. Then, using Wai's momentum, she flipped him over and onto the mat. She quickly moved over to him and readied a knockout blow, in case Wai tried to attack again. The red aura dissipated and when Wai opened his eyes they were back to their normal blue color. Wai raised his hands, showing that he was finished, and then he stood up, grabbed his gear and left without a word.

They all stood there in shock at what just happened. None of them had ever seen Wai like that. Quickly, Sylvia's shock became anger at her teammate.

_If he thinks this is the end of this, _thought Sylvia angrily, _then he's got another thing coming._

The door slammed as Wai left the room.

The rest of the team stood in silence, staring at the door that their friend had just left through after their argument about the incident in the gym.

Five minutes passed when Namra stood up.

"Where are you going?" Re questioned.

"To find Wai," Namra replied.

"Why?" snapped Re, "To take his side? Do you agree with him?"

"I'm not taking his side," responded Namra calmly, "I'm making sure he's okay."

"He just insulted Sylvia! Who cares if he's-"

"Re stop," Sylvia interrupted quietly, "let her go."

Re turned and looked at Sylvia, surprised at what she was saying.

"Thank you," Namra spoke quickly, wasting no time as she rushed out the door.

Sylvia walked over to her bed and sat down. Her head was swimming with thoughts about what Wai had just said to her.

_Team Indigo thinks I'm weak…Wai thinks I'm weak…Maybe I am weak…_

She sat there, her head hung as these thoughts continued to discourage her. Yet there was a part of her brain that tried to justify against it.

_But he defended me; he fought their leader, because he said those things. He probably just felt bad, it was after he agreed with him; I'm just worthless._

Sylvia felt hot tears welling up in her eyes when she felt Re sit beside her.

"You okay?" he asked concern in his voice.

"He's right…" she replied, ashamed that her voice trembled as she spoke.

"What?" Re inquired, once again shocked at what Sylvia was saying.

"He's right," she repeated, her voice still trembling, "Wai is completely right, I'm weak…"

"No," spoke Re, shaking his head, "he's wrong about you."

"It wasn't just him," Sylvia continued as she stood up, her silver boots making a light shuffling sound against the carpet as she walked to the other side of the room, "Team Indigo thinks I'm weak too. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if others agreed as well."

"They don't know what they're talking about."

"But they do!" Sylvia cried, her silver ponytail whipping around as she turned and faced Re, "I made a horrible tactical decision at the end of the battle today. Every single team battle we've had we've struggled with. Even my solo fighting skills are weak. Wai might not have noticed, but I had severe difficulties with their leader today."

Her eyes began to well up with tears as she listed off each event that made her weak.

"So no Re, you're wrong. They do know what they're talking about, all of them."

A single tear fell down her cheek as she said these last words:

"He was right…I shouldn't have come to Beacon…"

Re immediately stood up and rushed over to Sylvia, bringing her into a bear hug.

"Don't ever say that. This is your dream. This is what you've worked so hard for. Or did you forget all that?"

"I didn't forget," Sylvia reprimanded, "I'm just realizing the truth. I am weak."

"Don't say that!" Re shouted, pulling away from Sylvia, "You are easily the strongest person I know. There are so many people that would have caved and given up facing what you've faced. You had to face something that no man or woman should ever have to face, and you got through it."

"But I didn't get through it," Sylvia protested, "You helped me through that. Without you I wouldn't be here."

"That's not true," Re said shaking his head, "I only helped you realize what it was you were doing. You were the one who chose what to do. You were the one who chose to continue. You were the one who chose to continue."

Once again Re pulled her into a hug, "I told you once before, you are the one in charge of your life. You and only you can decide what you want to do. I did nothing more than provide a shoulder to cry on. You pulled yourself together to continue working toward your dream."

Silence fell over them as they stood there embracing each other. After a couple of minutes they broke apart.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" asked Re quietly.

Sylvia dried her green eyes and smiled.

"Yes," Sylvia responded still smiling, "You're right; I can't let this beat me. I've come too far to give up now."

Sylvia's face faltered, "I should apologize to Wai."

"Why?"

"Because I yelled at him when he was just trying to help me."

"But he shouldn't have insulted you so harshly either."

"I know. We are both at fault here, and regardless of whether or not he apologizes, I should."

Re was about to protest but Sylvia cut him off.

"No arguing here Re," Sylvia stated, "Wai was wrong in his approach, but I was wrong to yell. I feel I should apologize for my behavior as much as he does."

Re sighed, "Fine, but I disagree."

"Re, when do you ever agree with me?"

"I agree with you when it's time to eat," Re replied with a chuckle.

Sylvia laughed as the door opened. The two siblings turned to see Namra reenter the room.

"Did you find him?" asked Sylvia.

"No," she said solemnly, looking away from the two of them.

Sylvia sighed, "Well, he's bound to turn up by tomorrow. We should get some sleep. We have classes tomorrow."

Re nodded in agreement, and they all got ready for bed.

Sylvia lay there for a while, reflecting on the events of today.

_All this means now is that I have to train harder, _pondered Sylvia, _Re is completely right, I'm in charge of myself, only I can determine what beats me. Every obstacle is just another test of will and the only way to get better is to jump the next hurdle._

She turned over and closed her eyes.

_After all, no one is perfect._

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Sylvia awoke to the sound of their shrill alarm. She quickly shut it off and looked at the clock. The time read 6:50 AM. She got out of bed, wiped the sleep out of her eyes, and walked over to her beacon uniform. Having just been washed, it was considerably better looking than what she wore now. Her sleepwear was a wrinkled, light blue tank-top and a pair of grey flannel pants. Normally Sylvia would be disgusted by what she was wearing, but it was only something to sleep in so she didn't care. Grabbing her outfit for the day and her toiletries, she walked out of the dorm and to the bathroom. There was only one other girl in the shower this morning, or in the bathroom for that matter. Sylvia wasn't surprised by this as she was always one of the first people in the bathroom each day. She stepped into the shower and removed her clothes, carefully placing them on the rack right outside her shower. She turned on the water, flinching as the cold water touched her skin, but the water warmed up quickly enough, allowing Sylvia to completely submerge herself in the stream of water. The warm water ran down her skin, relaxing her as she recalled the events of yesterday.

_I'll have to talk to Wai this morning before our 8 o'clock class, _Sylvia thought, _better to get it out of the way now rather than later._

After about fifteen minutes in the shower, she turned the water off and began to dry herself. She then got dressed into her uniform and blow-dried her hair. Finally she put up her shoulder length hair into a small ponytail. As always, some of her hair refused and dangled in front of her left eye. Sighing at her hair's continued stubbornness, she grabbed her stuff and left the bathroom.

When she got back to the dorm she saw Re turn towards her. Next to him she saw Wai standing there, also looking at her. They all stood there quietly in anticipation for what would happen next.

"Sylvia," Wai finally spoke, "there are some things I have to explain to you."

Sylvia crossed her arms, "Alright," she acknowledged and motioned for him to continue.

Wai took a deep breath, "First off I want to apologize to you. I shouldn't have said all of those things to you. I should've never question your leadership and I shouldn't have yelled at you. I don't think I could ever be as good a leader as you are."

Wai paused to let his apology sink in before he continued, "Even though I thought you didn't perform at your best yesterday, I shouldn't have called you out in such a manner, and for that I am sorry."

Silence passed over them for a few minutes. Sylvia stood there, arms still crossed, staring at Wai with a stern expression. And then she smiled.

"Thank you Wai," she said, unfolding her arms, "I accept your apology."

Wai smiled and was about to continue but Sylvia held up a hand and stopped him.

"But," she continued, "I also want to apologize to you."

"Apologize?" Wai asked, confused, "For what? You didn't do anything wrong."

"Re thought so too," Sylvia remarked, "But I yelled at you. I called you selfish and thought that you were just trying to bad mouth me."

Sylvia took a breath, "You made me realize things I had to improve on, and you defended me when you fought Icarius. And all I did was reprimand you and yell at you for it. And for that I'm sorry."

Wai smiled, "It's fine," he replied, "I forgive you."

"However," Sylvia continued, "don't ever fight someone outside of sparring ever again. Or at least try not to kill them."

Wai's face fell, "Actually, that was another thing I wanted to explain."

Silence fell again as Wai took another deep breath. This was something he was not looking forward to explaining, but if he was going to continue on this team, they all deserved to know about it.

"The whole thing with Icarius," he began, "I wasn't trying to kill him intentionally…"

Sylvia and Re both stared at him in confusion, trying to understand what he meant.

"You see, the thing is… my semblance activated during the fight. My semblance is triggered by anger inside of me, and when it does trigger I have no control over it. The anger takes over, and I can no longer distinguish between friend and foe. I just attack anything that gets in the way of my target."

Wai turned and addressed both Re and Sylvia, "Which is why I attacked you two when you tried to stop me, I had no control over it and I'm sorry if I caused you any harm."

Re shrugged off his apology, "No worries man, you'll have to try harder than that to hurt me."

"Well at least you didn't take it too hard, 'cause I did." Wai continued, "When I left the dorm yesterday, I went to the library and decided that I should leave the team."

Re and Sylvia both gasped when Wai said that, but before they could respond, Wai continued:

"I didn't, and I'm not going to. But you have to understand; the last time something like this happened, I was expelled from my school. I had endangered everyone at that school and I didn't want to do that to my new friends. I felt I had to leave, to protect you guys."

Wai then smiled, "But then I realized that I didn't want to leave. You guys are like my family, you mean so much to me, and to leave you guys, well… I would've regretted it the rest of my life. So instead, to protect you, I'm gonna learn to control my semblance, because this way, I don't have to worry about ever hurting any of you, or anyone I care about ever again."

The room grew quiet as the rest of the team took in Wai's words. Sylvia finally understood why Wai had gotten so upset and why he had left the room. He was afraid of hurting any of them after all that. Sylvia walked closer to Wai and pulled him into a hug. They stood there like that for a few seconds and Wai hugged her back. Sylvia then felt two other bodies collide into them as Re and Namra joined the hug. They stood there embracing each other, knowing that they were all in this together, that they were there to support each other.

Finally, they all broke apart and stood in a small circle together when Sylvia spoke:

"I'm very glad you decided to stay," she said, "and don't worry, we'll be there to help you control your semblance."

"You guys can't, it's-" Wai started to protest.

"And don't say it's too dangerous," Namra interrupted, "We don't care, we're here to help and support you."

"Yeah man," Re added, "We're friends Wai. We help each other out, no matter the risk."

Wai grinned at that, "Thanks Re. Thanks to all of you."

Sylvia smiled back at Wai. She then looked at the clock on the wall of the dorm.

"Well, as much as I loved that bonding moment," she stated, "We do need to get to class now."

The rest of them nodded and proceeded to finish getting ready.

They all left for class at the same time. Re and Wai were back to being their old selves, joking and laughing all the way to class. Namra even joined in on the conversation, happy to know Wai was not leaving.

Sylvia hung back, silently appreciating the resolution that had happened.

She smiled to herself, _Re's right, _she thought to herself, _we're back to being one big happy family._


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Notes: Hey guys, so after so long, here is chapter 13 which I consider the end of volume 1 considering, chronologically in my head, this chapter takes place a little bit before the end of volume 1 of RWBY. After this chapter, I will be taking a bit of a hiatus while I compile more chapters to release at a later date. For now, enjoy chapter 13!**

What It Takes

Chapter 13: Family

The sound of metal on metal rang out in the sparring room as sparks flew from their clashing weapons. Basil held his trident horizontally, keeping Celestia's katana at bay. They struggled in their clash until Basil pushed the katana back, allowing him to distance himself from her. Celestia charged in, slashing her katana straight across his stomach. Basil stepped back, barely dodging the tip of her blade and slammed the end of his trident into her side. Celestia was knocked back to the edge of the matt, her pink hair getting into her face. Quickly adjusting her hair, Celestia started circling her opponent, looking for an opening. Basil watched her as he readied his trident to defend. She was wearing her normal white tank top, dark blue shorts and black combat boots, while Basil wore his green t-shirt, black cargo shorts and black sneakers. Neither of them wore their jackets, as it would be too hot to wear them during sparring. Celestia continued to circle as Basil followed her every movement.

_She's good, _thought Basil as he watched her circle; _it's hard to keep up with her swift strikes and movements._

Basil gripped his trident tighter as Celestia started to circle in the opposite direction, like a predator circling her prey.

_I can't tell where she plans on striking,_ Basil determined to himself, _I'll have to rely on instinct alone. _

Basil prepared his semblance as Celestia charged in. She slashed straight at Basil's chest, as Basil's aura started to glow green. Using his semblance, Basil dodged out of the way of the blade and countered. But Celestia was ready for that, and quickly she blocked the strike, placing her blade in between the prongs of his trident. Celestia placed her left foot forward and slashed upward, causing Basil to start to lose his balance. She then followed up with a flurry of slashes and stabs, causing Basil to have to clumsily block and parry each blow as he backpedaled away from her. Seeing her opening, Celestia delivered one more powerful strike against him, causing his trident to fly out of his hand and him to fall straight onto his back. Basil tried to get up but was immediately greeted with a sword to his throat.

He looked up to meet Celestia's steel blue eyes. Her hair fell into place nearly perfectly, only a few strands out of place against her fair white skin. Her skin slightly glistened from the sweat from their spar, making her seem to glow. Her dog ears slightly twitching in a way that Basil always thought was cute. A slight heat rose up in his face as Celestia smiled at him and lowered her sword.

"Looks like I win," She determined, her smile widening.

"Y-yea," Basil replied looking away with a smile while rubbing the back of his head, "looks like it."

He got up quickly and grabbed his trident off the floor of the gym. Switching them back to pistols, he placed them onto his belt as he followed Celestia to their water bottles.

Basil grabbed his and took a big thirsty gulp from it.

"So," Celestia addressed Basil, "ready for some hand to hand combat?"

"Yea," Basil agreed. They had decided to spar with each other that day, because Aurelia was studying for another one of her finals and Porphyrios was taking his first final today.

_We have to be prepared for Glynda's combat final next week,_ Basil pondered, _plus spending time with Celestia has been fun these last few weeks._

After the day Basil found out his brother had died, he had grown closer to Celestia. Awkward conversations had ended between the two now that Basil had accepted her, despite his previous impressions of the Faunus. In fact, their companionship had grown more than with any of their other friends. They had conversations all the time, over dinner, while trying to study, and they even whispered in class, much to Porphyrios' disapproval. Even Aurelia had lightened up to Basil, happy to see them getting along rather than Basil's usual attitude.

_I can't believe I've never actually sparred against her, _Basil pondered curiously, _then again usually it's Porphyrios sparring with me, or Re._

Both of them placed their weapons to the side and walked over to the mat, preparing stances opposite of each other. They started to circle each other, trying to gauge their opponent's first move.

Celestia moved first and delivered a side kick to Basil's chest. He swiftly moved to block the kick as her heel collided into his left forearm. Celestia then quickly stepped forward and delivered a roundhouse kick to Basil's side. Unable to block it, Basil tumbled to his left and stopped himself in a crouching position. Standing up, Basil grabbed Celestia's foot out of the air as she tried to deliver another side kick to his face. Throwing her foot to the side, Basil delivered his own side kick to Celestia's stomach, causing the already off balance Faunus to fall over. However, Celestia used her momentum from Basil's kick to deftly back roll onto her feet.

"That all you got?" she taunted with a smirk.

"I'm just getting started," Basil retorted.

They continued sparring for another hour or so, dodging and blocking kicks and punches. They rolled this way and that, each trying to gain the upper hand in the fight. Eventually, they both stopped, breathing heavily after their long workout.

"Draw?" Basil called out to Celestia, "It's dinner time and I'm hungry."

Celestia grinned at him, "Yea, let's go eat."

They both went over, gathered their gear up and left the gym.

* * *

The door clicked open and Basil walked into his team's dorm room. He was closely followed by the rest of his team after a satisfying dinner. They were all discussing the upcoming finals for the year.

"I certainly hope Port's final is easy," spoke Celestia, "he barely taught us anything this year!"

"I know right!?" responded Aurelia, "All he did was tell us about his stupid stories from when he was younger!"

"I thought his stories were interesting," commented Basil throwing himself onto his bed, "they each had a different moral to them."

"Are you serious?" yelled Aurelia, "The morals were always vague, if there even was one!"

"Mmm…" agreed Porphyrios scratching his beard, "They weren't exactly the most informative."

"But they were enjoyable, at least," Basil defended with a slight smirk.

"Not really," Celestia said, "most of them were probably not even true."

Aurelia turned toward Porphyrios, "So how was Oobleck's final?" she asked the stoic boy.

"Fine," stated Porphyrios, "easy A."

"Probably 'cause you spent every waking hour studying for it," Basil remarked, "seriously, you're like a robot when it comes to school."

Porphyrios shrugged, "Better to be over prepared than underprepared."

They continued to talk about exams for a few minutes, listing off their thoughts and how much they should study, when Basil felt his scroll go off in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw the new e-mail icon highlighted. He tapped the icon.

_SLAM!_

They all jumped slightly as Re burst into the room.

"Hahaha! Finally that history exam is done!" he yelled into the room.

He ran up to Porphyrios, his hand raised in the air.

"Come on Porph, high five!"

"It's one exam," replied Porphyrios his arms crossed, "It hardly calls for celebration. You should be focusing on the rest of your exams."

"Oh come on, Porph," complained Re, lowering his hand. "It's always cause for celebration, especially when it's a history exam!"

Porphyrios shrugged, "I don't see why; it wasn't that bad."

Re turned to Basil with a smile, "Come on Basil. Back me up here."

Re's smile fell when he saw Basil's pale expression. The rest of the room turned to Basil.

"What's wrong Basil?" Celestia spoke with concern.

Basil looked up from his scroll, his eyes watering slightly, "Cinereus…he's alive..."

They all stood in shocked silence as they all took in what Basil had just said.

"What?" asked Celesia incredulously.

Basil looked at his friends, "My brother is alive."

"But…you said he was dead," Aurelia stated perplexed by this new found knowledge.

"He was," Basil replied still stunned, "he was presumed dead at the site, but he must have escaped somehow because he just messaged me from his scroll."

"Wait," Porphyrios held up a hand in a stopping motion as he spoke, "how do we know it's your brother and not just someone impersonating him? After all, if it was the White Fang who attacked them, it's only logical they would go after you next."

Basil turned to Porphyrios, "That's true, and I would assume that if it weren't for the fact that he sent a video message."

Basil turned the screen and played the video.

On the screen there was a boy with white skin and grey eyes. He had an oval shaped face and a diagonal scar over his left eye. His hair was black, nearly blending into the background of the place he was in.

"They have me," the boy spoke in a quiet, panicked voice," they have me in a warehouse in Vale. You have to find me quick before it's too late."

A clunking sound could be heard somewhere off screen and the boy turned towards it for a minute before turning back.

"Basil," he said, his voice even more panicked now. Basil clenched the scroll in anticipation and fear.

"Please, you have to find me. I'm in warehouse seven. Please come quickly."

The video ended there and a silence filled the room. Everyone just stared at the screen, unable to form words.

"Well that settles it."

Everyone jumped in surprise as Re broke the silence. They had forgotten he was there.

"You guys get ready while I grab my team; let's go save Basil's brother," he declared.

"Hold up Re," Porphyrios interjected before Re could run off. "We don't even know where this warehouse seven is. Besides how do we know this isn't some form of trap?"

Basil looked up from his scroll, his face very serious, "What do you mean Porphyrios?"

Porphyrios looked at Basil, "I mean, we have no idea where this message came from, how do we know it isn't being used to lure us into a trap?"

Everyone stood there watching Porphyrios as he continued, "It's clear from the video that some group has captured him. The only group that has shown hostility towards Basil's family is the White Fang, meaning that they are probably the ones holding him captive. If the White Fang is being this hostile towards their family then they are going to want Basil as well. Therefore, they could easily be trying to use Basil's brother as bait to capture Basil as well, meaning that if we all go to save him, we could all be captured by them."

Basil stood up and glared at Porphyrios, "So what are you saying Porphyrios?" Basil spoke, venom evident in his voice as he continued to stare down Porphyrios.

Porphyrios face remained expressionless as he stared at Basil's face, "I'm saying that we should be cautious, and take a few days to plan."

"We don't have a few days," Basil's voice rising as he argued, "you saw the video! We don't have a lot of time as it is. We have to go now!"

"Basil, think about this," Porphyrios retorted his deep voice also rising, "If your brother is being held by the White Fang, we need to be extremely cautious."

"There's no time to be cautious," Basil yelled, "Cinereus needs our help now! We can't wait any longer!"

"I'm trying to protect my team, _you_ included," Porphyrios reasoned, "it's clear that they want you, and they are using Cinereus to get to you. Why else would he contact you? The White Fang is using him so they can capture you and then ransom you and him to your parents, or worse. We have to be prepared to take them on so we don't get captured."

"Well you guys do all the planning you want," Basil declared walking over to the closet and grabbing his black bomber jacket and putting it over his green shirt, "I'm going to save my brother." He then grabbed his blue bracers from the closet and clasped them on his forearms.

"Basil you can't-" Celestia started but Basil cut her off:

"You can't stop me," he said as he grabbed his trident and turned toward the door.

He stopped suddenly as he was greeted by Team Sunrise, all dressed and ready to go. Namra wore her short, frayed, brown cloak over her brown tunic with a tan scarf around her neck. She had on black baggy pants and tan sneakers and, as always, her black blindfold. Her two short swords were strapped to her back and the chains hung down near her legs. Re wore his red hoodie and blue jeans along with brown sneakers and yellow fingerless gloves. His scimitars were sheathed at his black belt, ready to fight. Wai wore his dark, blue leather jacket, black jeans and blue combat gloves and boots along with his gauntlets, which were equipped to his arms. Sylvia wore her white sweater, blue jeans and silver combat boots. Her falchion was sheathed on her right side and her dust canisters were equipped on her belt along with her side quiver. She was the first to speak.

"So," she began, "I heard we're going to rescue Basil's brother."

"Not today," growled Porphyrios, "we need time to make a plan to infiltrate."

"Well from what Re said, it sounds like we don't have time;" replied Sylvia, "so unless you'd prefer to stay here and quiver in fear, I'd suggest you grab your gear."

"Quiver in fear?" cried Porphyrios in rage, "I'm trying to keep my team safe!"

"Well the best way to do that would be to join them," Sylvia stated plainly, "because it looks like they're going anyway. So grab your gear and do your job."

Porphyrios stood there in silence as the other leader reprimanded him. He watched as both Aurelia and Celestia grabbed their weapons and combat gear, getting ready for the mission ahead. He sighed:

"Fine, but that still leaves the fact that we have no clue where this warehouse is."

"I believe I can help with that," Wai spoke, "In my time at Sanctum I worked with a lot of technology. It was one of my main ways of making mischief at my school. I can trace the video message back to its source."

"And you're certain you can do this?" inquired Porphyrios.

"He can." Re spoke up, "As a prank, Wai was able to send an email to Cardin Wincester from Professor Oobleck saying that he needed to do extra work for his class. Cardin eventually found out it was false, but they were never able to trace it back to us."

"Glad to see that you're putting that skill to good use," Sylvia responded sarcastically.

"Look, the point is, Wai can get us to the location of warehouse seven," Re concluded.

"We should do this quickly," Namra interjected, "the public airships to downtown Vale stop running at 9:30. Any later and we'll need permission from the headmaster."

"Well then," Porphyrios stated, grabbing his gear. He then turned to Basil:

"Let's go get your brother back."

* * *

The airship dropped them off in downtown Vale. It was cold out as the sun finished setting and the stars came out into the night sky. The shattered moon illuminated the path as the two teams headed to the determined location of warehouse seven.

"It should be right here," Wai declared quietly as he pointed to a steel gray building.

The building had two small windows and a set of huge sliding doors in the front. It was an old building and looked like it hadn't seen any use for a while.

"Are you sure?" inquired Porphyrios.

"Yes," Wai nodded, "the signal I traced from his brother's last communication originated from here. So, Basil's brother should be inside."

"Wow," Celestia whispered in awe, "where'd you learn to do that?"

"One of my teachers at Sanctum was really good with technology," replied Wai, "we were pretty good friends so he taught me what he knew."

"Come on Celestia, help me open the doors," Basil requested.

Celestia and Basil moved forward, grabbed the crack where the two doors met, and pulled. The door creaked and scraped as the two students opened the entrance to the warehouse wide enough for them to squeeze through.

"That wasn't quiet," Sylvia pointed out to the two of them.

"Sylvia," Re stated, "it's an old metal door, it's not gonna be quiet."

"Let's go," Porphyrios responded gruffly as he went through the opening, his tail lightly clanking against the door.

The rest of the students all entered the old warehouse. It was dark inside except for the moonlight creeping in from the windows and the open door.

"See anything?" murmured Basil to Celestia and Porphyrios.

"Instead of asking them, why don't you ask me?"

The group was suddenly blinded as the lights of the warehouse were turned on. After a few seconds of blinding white light, the group saw what was in the warehouse.

Above on the center rafter was a man in a bowler hat and a black suit and tie. He was tall and muscular with white skin and close cropped black hair. He was smiling, but the smile never reached his cold, gray eyes. In front of them was a different scene. A man and a woman stood next to a chair containing a dark mass. The man was huge, standing much taller than the suited man and much more heavily built. He had brown bear ears and a heavily scarred face with brown skin and hair. He wore a long, black trench coat, black baggy jeans and brown boots. He had a sledgehammer slung over his shoulder as if it was a toy. The girl was much smaller in comparison, with olive skin, short brown hair and hazel eyes. She wore a camo green tank top with black shorts and an ammo belt that she wore diagonally across her waist. Her shoes were black and green and her lips were adorned with pink lip gloss.

The dark mass in the chair stirred, revealing a young boy. He had medium length black hair, gray eyes, and white skin with a scar over his left eye. He wore a black cloak with a dark grey t-shirt, black leather shoes and black leather gloves. He had a gag in his mouth and was tied to the chair, but around his neck Basil saw a necklace with half of a yin-yang symbol.

"Cinereus!" Basil cried and started to move forward. The giant Faunus slammed his hammer down on the ground. The result of the impact caused an echoing metal sound around the warehouse and a small shake of the ground.

After recovering from the sound and shaking, Basil drew his pistols as everyone else drew their weapons as well. The man in the rafters laughed. It echoed slightly in the warehouse, a cold laugh, an evil laugh.

"Please," he stated his voice just as cold as his laugh, "don't embarrass yourselves."

"Let my brother go!" Basil cried.

"Your brother?" the man inquired, "So that's who he contacted with his scroll. And here I was expecting the entire police force."

He gestured to the group with his hand, "Instead, I get eight incompetent hunters."

He moved his hand to his face, "Oh excuse me, hunters-in-training. Tell me, what did you think you were going to do when you got here? Did you think it was going to be some daring, heroic rescue to become well-known at the academy?"

"No," Celestia shouted, "we're here to help a friend get his brother back!"

"Hmmph," the man put his hands behind his back in a military style stance, "of course, because that's what friends do right? Friends will always stand by each other's side, that is, until a time comes when it's too much for them. And believe me, that time will come for you as well. Your friendships will break in due time, with enough pressure."

The man shook his head, "but I've said enough already. How's about you lower your weapons and make this as painless as possible?"

All eight of the students tightened their grip on their weapons and the man laughed again.

"Well you leave me no choice…Olivia?"

The young woman smiled and walked over to the chair, pulled out her sub-machine gun and pointed it at the boy's head.

"Don't!" cried Basil and he put his pistols on the ground. Turning toward the others, he motioned for them to do the same. The group hesitated and then, one by one put their weapons down. As Re put his down, he whispered into Sylvia's ear. Sylvia nodded slightly so as not to attract attention. But the man in the suit was too focused on Basil to care about the rest of the group.

"Take them," he commanded.

The Faunus moved over to them, his hammer still over his shoulder. He motioned to grab Basil, when something else happened. Sylvia opened a dust container at her belt, formed a dagger with it and threw it at Olivia. The dagger hit the woman's hand, causing her to drop the gun. After that, it all happened at once. Basil and Celestia slammed their shoulders into the bear Faunus, knocking him back. Wai fired a grenade into the rafter that the suited man was standing on, hitting him directly in the chest and sending him off the rafter and to the ground. Re grabbed his scimitars and ran forward to Cinereus as the rest of them fought off the enemies. Sylvia knocked her bow and fired it at Olivia. She drew her other sub-machine gun, deflected the arrow and fired at Sylvia. Namra then moved in front and blocked the gun fire with her short swords. The bear Faunus got up and blocked Aurelia's ax before it hit him. Celestia then came up behind him and sliced at his side. The impact did nothing and he quickly used his sledgehammer to fling Aurelia into Celestia, sending them both to the ground. Sylvia and Namra continued their assault on Olivia while Re reached Cinereus.

"Don't worry kid," Re said reassuringly removing the kid's gag, "we're gonna get you out of here."

He moved around back to cut the boy lose when the boy turned his head and yelled:

"Look out!"

Re turned just in time to block two fists equipped with black brass knuckles with his swords. The man in the suit had him pinned against the chair. Struggling to push the man back, Re quickly kicked his feet up and out, hitting the man right in the chest. The man was pushed back enough for Re to be freed. Re then swung his blade at the man, who blocked it just in time with his fist. He then delivered a punch straight into Re's gut, causing him to keel over, the wind having been knocked out of him. The man in the suit then swung back and delivered a punch towards Re's head. But the blow never connected as Wai jumped in and blocked the strike with his gauntlets. Wai pushed the man back and fired a grenade, hitting him straight in the chest and sending him into the wall.

The bear Faunus swung his sledgehammer down upon Aurelia, when Porphyrios ran in front of her, blocking the hammer with the inside of his sickles. With the hammer bearing down on the both of them, Porphyrios pushed back as hard as he could, allowing him to disarm the opposing Faunus. Surprised by his strength, the bear Faunus stumbled back, causing him to be unbalanced. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Celestia slammed her sword across the giant's torso, the impact causing him to tumble and fall. Sylvia and Namra were keeping Olivia on her toes, but they were still completely even. Sylvia swung in with a vertical strike to Olivia's head, but Olivia easily intercepted the attack with her right kama. Namra then threw one of her chained short swords at her, grabbing her left arm and twisting it, causing her to drop her second weapon. Namra then threw her other blade at Olivia's torso, but she deftly kicked the sword out of the air. Using the blade on her weapon, Olivia parried Sylvia's blade and kicked her to the ground. Olivia then grabbed the chain and pulled Namra toward her and kicked her straight in the chest. Namra hit the ground and loosened her grip on the chain, allowing Olivia to free her arm and grab her disarmed weapon ready for round two.

Basil fiddled at the rope holding Cinereus to the chair, undoing the knots as quickly as possible, eventually freeing him.

Cinereus then pulled Basil into a big hug.

"Time for that later," Basil said, cutting the hug short, "let's get out of here."

Wai blocked another punch from the man in the suit with his gauntlet blade, as he received a follow up kick to the chest. Wai hunched over as Re rolled over him, shooting the man in the chest with his shotgun. The gray-eyed man was hit square in the chest and stumbled slightly backward. Regaining his composure, the man switched his brass knuckles to their pistol forms and aimed them at Re and Wai. However, before he could do anything, he was knocked off balance when Olivia was slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground. Sylvia then drew her bow and fired an arrow at the two. The man was quick and grabbed the arrow out of the air before it hit anything. The man chuckled slightly until the red arrow exploded in his hand. They were sent into the side wall and were joined there by the bear Faunus as he backed away from Celestia, Aurelia, and Porphyrios, his sledgehammer raised. Olivia and the gray eyed man stood up and eyed their opponents. Each student had their weapon drawn, aimed at the enemies in front of them. Once again the man in the suit chuckled to himself.

"You are all very brave," the man commended to the students, "I've never seen such fight in so many young students."

The man stopped chuckling and stared at the students in front of him, "But you're still completely out matched. Fortunately, for you, we're done here, so I'll bid you all good night."

And with that, the man grabbed his two companions as smoke appeared around them. Before any of the students knew what had happened, the three disappeared leaving disbursements of smoke behind them. The sound of engines could be heard outside as what sounded like an airship was ready to take off. The students rushed out into the night and looked up into the sky. They saw the airship as it was leaving, flying through the night sky.

Porphyrios turned to Aurelia, "Shoot it down," he commanded.

Aurelia nodded and switched her battle ax to rocket launcher form. She aimed the launcher at the airship and her eyes turned completely white as she activated her semblance. Her vision increased, allowing her to see every detail of the airship, allowing her to know exactly when and where to fire. Aurelia turned slightly to the left and fired. The rocket flew through the air towards the airship as Aurelia watched its progress. With her vision, she saw the side door of the airship open up as the man in the bowler hat appeared, his suit coat flapping in the wind. He aimed one of his pistols at the rocket, firing several shots until the rocket exploded, smoke and fire filling the air. She deactivated her semblance, her eyes returning to normal, staggering slightly.

"Did you hit it?" Porphyrios demanded.

Aurelia shook her head, "No, one of them came out and shot it out of the air."

Porphyrios growled in frustration, his tail swishing angrily.

Basil walked over and hugged Cinereus.

"I'm so glad you're alright," exclaimed Basil, holding his brother tightly.

Sirens could be heard in the distance, as the police finally responded sounds of gunfire and explosions.

"We should get back to the school," mentioned Sylvia, "That way we can inform Professor Ozpin about what happened here and he can take action."

Porphyrios nodded, "Good idea. Let's go."

* * *

Basil and Cinereus walked out of the doors of Beacon Academy the next day. The sun burned brightly above as they headed toward the airship that would take Cinereus back to their parents. They reached the airship and Basil gave Cinereus one last hug.

"You'll call once a week right?" Cinereus asked tentatively, still shaken up from being captured.

"Twice a week," Basil responded, "and several messages in between."

"Okay," Cinereus replied with a smile, "I'll see you this summer then."

"Yea, see you this summer."

And with that, Cinereus entered the airship, ready to go home.

* * *

"What?!"

Sylvia and Porphyrios were in Professor Ozpin's office with both Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch. They were informing the headmaster about what had happened the night before with Cinereus and the man in the black suit.

"As I said Porphyrios," Ozpin explained to the angry Faunus, "without sufficient information on them, I can't make a full investigation."

"But you're the headmaster," objected Porphyrios angrily, "You have to do something!"

"Professor Ozpin," interjected Sylvia calmly, "there must be some way you can investigate further into this matter."

"Unfortunately I cannot," replied Ozpin, "As I said before, I will inform the police of these events and they will determine a proper course of action, but right now I am preoccupied with other important issues that have arisen recently."

"If you had more information about what these people are up to, if they're even up to anything," stated Glynda, "then we may be able to help you. But as it stands, there is nothing more we can do."

Porphyrios slammed his hands down on Ozpin's desk, "So that's it?! Just turn it over to the police?! I thought being a huntsman meant protecting the people from evil like this!"

"I have much more pressing concerns at the moment."

"Are you saying this isn't important enough?" Porphyrios spat.

"The headmaster has told you his decision," interjected Glynda barring him from the desk with her riding crop, "Just because I haven't expelled you for going on this 'mission' yet doesn't mean I still can't. Now good day students..."

Porphyrios glared at Glynda as he turned and walked out of the room with Sylvia.

"He's right," Sylvia commented, "he needs more information about them in order for it to be a concern."

"They're a group of kidnappers and criminals," Porphyrios growled, "That should be enough information for him to take action."

* * *

Cole stood in his office. The map of locations was still on the table, a few more crossed out, showing their progress so far. He faced the rest of his team, Olivia, Roano, and Coralia.

"That could have gone badly," commented Coralia, "They might have gone to Ozpin and he might have sent out search parties to find us, or informed the police."

Roano grunted with a laugh, "If they did, I'd kill them all before they could set one foot in this place."

Coralia turned and glared at Roano, "That's not the point. Our position would be compromised and the entire base would be destroyed."

"They would also probably hunt us down!" Olivia said excitedly, "It would make our mission more exciting!"

"And difficult, which we don't need," Coralia pointed out, "which is why I'm saying it was a risky move."

"Believe me it was not," Cole stated bluntly, "If they deploy forces to hunt us down, our informant will tell us before it happens, trust me."

He folded his hands behind his back, "Besides, being known about isn't a problem; or do you forget about breaking Roano out of custody? Plenty of people saw us then, and it hasn't affected us one bit. Nobody knows who we are, and even if they did, there is no way they can find us here."

"But-"

"Coralia," Cole interrupted, "I've got it covered. I know what I'm doing."

His scroll vibrated on his desk. Cole pushed a button and a warped voice came online.

"They know nothing," the warped voice said, "all is going according to plan."

"Good," replied Cole, "continue monitoring them, let me know if anything important comes up."

"Acknowledged."

The call ended.

"Satisfied?" Cole asked Coralia.

"Yes," replied Coralia.

"Good. Now, it's time to proceed to phase two."


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Notes: Welcome back to my OC story! It's officially been a year since I uploaded my first chapter of this and now we are back with more of the story! Enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 14: Team JADE

The three of them were eating lunch as they sat in the school's dining hall. Aurelia sat in the middle of the bench surrounded by her friends. She wore the usual Beacon academy attire: a red plaid skirt, brown jacket with a tan vest and white shirt. Her wavy, golden brown hair was tied up in its usual pigtail on her right side with a gold ribbon. The rest of it fell down slightly past her shoulders and the bangs on her right side fell slightly below her reddish brown eyes. Her olive skin seemed to glow as she talked animatedly with her best friend Celestia. She had long, dark pink hair with small floppy dog ears of the same color. Her eyes were a steel blue and her skin was fair. She wore diamond stud earrings and the same Beacon academy outfit that Aurelia had, except Celestia wore the uniform's optional dark red stockings as well. Across from them sat Basil who contributed to the conversation every so often, but seemed preoccupied about something. He had short messy brown hair and a small beard on his chin of the same color. His eyes were a deep shade of brown and his skin was white. He wore the male version of the Beacon outfit, which consisted of a black suit accompanied by a blue vest, white shirt and a red tie. He wore a chain around his neck which, although she couldn't see it, Aurelia knew the symbol of yin was attached at the end of it. She also knew that his brother wore the other half of the symbol, yang, around his neck. She only knew that because just last semester they had saved Basil's brother from a group of bad guys, after they had assumed he was dead.

_Perhaps he's thinking about him right now,_ thought Aurelia, _what happened last semester must have really hit close to home for him._

Aurelia started to tap her fingernails on the surface of the table nervously.

_Come to think of it, _she pondered, _our encounter with those guys last semester made me nervous too. They were all quite powerful and escaped without so much as a scratch; they even were able to stop my rocket from blowing them up._

Her tapping got faster as she continued to think:

_What if they attack Beacon? What if they come after us? What if I can't keep Celestia safe? What if-_

"Aurelia are you alright?"

Aurelia jumped slightly as she was jarred from her thoughts.

"Wha- yea, yea I'm fine. Totally fine."

"No you're not," stated Celestia plainly, "you were tapping your fingernails on the table. You only do that when you're nervous."

Aurelia sighed. Celestia could always tell when she was lying.

"I was thinking about what happened last semester," confessed Aurelia, "I'm worried what they may be planning, if they're even planning anything. Maybe we should research them like Porph suggested."

Celestia put a hand on Aurelia's shoulder, "Well don't worry about it. We're surrounded by great huntsmen and huntresses. Not to mention every single student here is no stranger to combat. We are completely safe here. There's no need to worry."

Aurelia smiled at her and Basil, "Yea, good point," she replied.

_She's right, _Aurelia agreed as she touched her other shoulder, _we're safe here, no sense to be worried._

Suddenly, the entire room erupted into a variety of loud noises. Food was being thrown everywhere and people were screaming, trying to get away from the chaos. All three of them stood up and saw what everyone was running from. Eight people, four on each side of the room, had turned the entirety of the dining hall into a battle field for a food fight.

"We should probably follow everyone else's lead," commented Basil.

"Good idea," replied Aurelia, "I'd hate to get this outfit dirty."

They made their way out of the dining hall as fast as they could and ended up in a courtyard area with a fountain in the center.

"I wouldn't want to be those guys when Glynda sees them," commented Basil.

"Yea," Celestia agreed, "glad we got out of there when we did."

"Got out of where?"

The three students turned. Standing to their right were two male students who they had never seen before. The one who had addressed them had short, red hair, bright green eyes and beautiful white skin. He had a light build with well-defined muscles. He wore a half-buttoned trench coat with a white button up dress shirt underneath. He had on tan khakis and shiny black shoes. He had a charming smile on his face as he looked at the three of them.

The other boy was also white skinned, with long, straight, black hair and thin brown eyes. He was just as muscular, if not more so, as the red haired kid. He wore gray athletic pants that had a black and white stripe going down both sides. His athletic jacket was gray with black trimming and he wore a black t-shirt underneath. His sneakers were white with black and red lining. His face wore a neutral expression as he looked over at the cafeteria.

"Looks like they were getting out of that," he spoke in a level voice.

The red haired boy looked over in the same direction and smiled wider as he observed the two teams having their food fight through the window.

"Looks like they're enjoying themselves," pointed out the red haired boy.

"If this is how students at Beacon conduct themselves, this tournament should be a cakewalk," the black haired boy stated.

The red haired boy turned back to the black haired boy, "Keep in mind, they are an esteemed academy. I wouldn't judge them by the way they behave in a cafeteria."

The other boy smirked, "True. We'll just have to wait and see. Who knows, maybe someone here can give me a challenge."

Basil cleared his throat and both boys turned toward them.

"So who are you guys?" asked Basil tentatively.

"Oh, so sorry," the red haired boy apologized politely. He made a short bow, "My name is Asita. Asita von Braum. And what may I call you lovely ladies?"

Aurelia became guarded, not sure of the boys' intentions. They were both taller than her, but Aurelia was confident she could take either of them down if they tried something funny.

"Aurelia," Aurelia said stiffly, "and this is Celestia," she continued, gesturing to her pink haired friend.

Celestia nodded shyly, acknowledging his friendly introduction.

"I'm Jett," the black haired boy said holding out his hand in front of Basil.

"Basil."

Jett smiled slightly, "Pleasure to meet you Basil. We're from Atlas."

"I figured that," Basil replied, "I've heard of the strength of some of the students in Atlas and you certainly carry that air about you. Also you talked about Beacon like you'd never been here before."

"Very observant," Jett complimented with a smirk.

Asita looked around a bit, "I must say, this campus is quite lovely, much more foliage than back at our academy." He turned to Aurelia and Celestia, "either of you two mind showing us around?"

Aurelia rolled her eyes, "No thanks," she replied, "we have to get ready for class tomorrow, now excuse us."

Aurelia walked off in the direction of the dorms, followed closely by Celestia.

"It was nice to meet you two," Basil said as he followed his two teammates.

"Likewise," replied Asita with a grin.

And with that, the three of them walked back towards the dorms.

* * *

Re sighed for what he felt was the umpteenth time.

He sat at a table dressed in his usual red zip up hoodie and blue jeans, along with yellow fingerless gloves and brown sneakers. e He He was hanging out with Namra and Wai in the library to help Wai train to control his semblance. Originally, Re wanted to just go to the training room and spar while Wai activated his semblance, so Wai could learn by doing. But both Namra and Wai rejected that idea, deeming it both dangerous and irresponsible. Instead, Namra thought it would be a good idea to get Wai to meditate which, apparently, was one of the steps Namra took when she took aura training classes.

_I guess that explains how she doesn't run out of aura while keeping her semblance active all day, _Re thought as he stared at yet another book on semblance control, _even still, she's still pretty exhausted by the end of the day._

Re turned toward the window where Namra and Wai had cleared a space for meditation. Namra was wearing her brown tunic and cloak that covered her shoulders along with baggy black pants and tan sneakers. She also wore her signature black blindfold and a small tan scarf. Wai wore his blue leather jacket, black jeans and blue combat boots. Both Namra's eye-length shaggy brown hair and Wai's slightly long blue hair seemed to flow by themselves, as if there were a breeze somewhere. They were sitting cross legged and seemed to be in a deep trance, and had been like that for a while. Wai had been having some trouble getting started with it but, with Namra's encouragement, he had finally gotten into a trance. Re smiled, he was happy to see Wai progressing with his training, after what happened last semester, Re wanted to help out as much as he could.

_Unfortunately, _Re pondered bitterly, _with Namra's training there's not much I can actually do to help._

Re went back to his book, rereading page twelve about aura levels for the fifth time when his mind drifted again.

_Although it is nice to see Namra and Wai becoming better friends,_ Re considered to himself, _and she is the expert on semblance control here. I just wish I could do more to help._

Re looked across the room to see Porphyrios and Sylvia conversing quietly together at the library computers.

_I wonder if Sylvia is doing okay, _deliberated Re, _she was badly affected by what happened with Wai. She hasn't been that down on herself since back home._ _Maybe I should-_

"Excuse me."

Re snapped out of his thoughts and turned toward the sound.

Standing in front of him were two girls. The one on the right had fair skin, blonde, shoulder length, straight hair and bright green eyes that were lit up even more by her smile. Surprisingly, she was only a head shorter than him, and he was almost six feet himself. She had a light build and wore a yellow and white shoulder-less striped shirt, long flowery skirt and white sneakers with red laces. Around her neck was a necklace of white pearls with a matching pair of earrings. Re was stunned by the girl's smile for so long that he almost forgot his manners.

"S-sorry," Re stammered apologetically, blushing slightly, "um…did you need something?"

_Real smooth Re,_ he thought to himself.

The girl giggled slightly at Re's embarrassment.

_God she's cute,_ Re thought bewildered, _keep it cool Re, no more embarrassment._

"I was wondering if you knew where the Atlesian dorms were," she asked in a sweet voice, still smiling, "My friend and I wanted to collect some belongings there before exploring the school."

Until that point, Re had completely forgotten about the girl's companion, who stood to the left of Re. This girl was a few inches shorter than the blonde girl and had more well-defined muscles than her companion. She had short, shaggy, coarse black hair and half-lidded hazel eyes. Her skin was pale white, as if she hadn't seen the sun enough, which was surprising considering the rest of her attire. Everything she wore was black; her hooded form fitting jacket, skinny jeans, belt, running shoes, all of it was black. She also had three silver piercings on different parts of her ears. But there were two things that especially stood out about this girl. One thing was that she wore a small black face scarf around her neck, as if she was expecting an attack at any moment. The other was the black, panther tail that swung back and forth along the ground. She was certainly quite the opposite of the blonde girl in both appearance and personality.

"Oh you're from Atlas?" Re inquired curiously.

The blonde girl's smile broadened, "Yea!" she said enthusiastically, "My name's Daisy, and this is my teammate Ebony."

The girl called Ebony merely crossed her arms and nodded at Re, her tail still swishing back and forth. She seemed on edge, but Re didn't notice as he smiled and held out his hand to Daisy.

"I'm Re," Re replied, shaking Daisy's hand, "it's nice to meet both of you."

He reached out his hand to Ebony as well, but she did not extend hers, eyes staring intensely into Re's, as if trying to determine what she could do to break him.

Slightly intimidated, Re withdrew his hand.

"So you're looking for the Altesian dorms?"

"Yes we are!" responded Daisy again with a big smile, "Do you happen to know where they are?"

_Oh boy I wish I did, _Re ruminated to himself as he listed off in his head what places he knew about on campus, _come on Re think, you gotta know where the guest dorms are, anything to talk to her more._

Re scratched his blond head as he continued to think, muttering to himself, "Dorm rooms…dorm rooms…"

Thankfully, assistance came in the form of Namra and Wai, both of whom had come out of their meditations.

"Hey Re," greeted Namra, her head facing forward, "who're your friends?"

"Hey Namra!" exclaimed Re, "this is Daisy and Ebony."

"Hello!" Daisy replied with a smile, while Ebony just simply nodded in Namra's direction.

"They were just asking me where the Atlesian dorms were located."

"Let me guess," Wai interjected with a smile, "you have no clue as to where they are, so you were hoping one of us did."

Re hung his head while Namra smirked slightly at Wai's jab.

"I was hoping it would happen more subtly, but yes Wai, that was what I was waiting for, thanks," replied Re, somewhat scathingly.

"Well thankfully I know where they are," stated Namra.

She pointed to her right, in the opposite way the girls had come in, "Exit that way and take a right and then a left. Then go straight until you reach the big fountain, then take another right and you should see them."

Daisy grinned widely, "Thank you very much Namra!"

"If you want I can walk you two there." Re suggested, "I may not know where the guest dorms are, but I do know a fair bit about this campus! I could give you a small tour?"

"Sure!" Daisy replied, excited at the prospect.

Ebony then interjected, speaking in a firm tone, "I don't think that's necessary Re, we can get there on our own."

"Oh come on Ebony!" encouraged Daisy, "It could be a lot of fun!"

Ebony rolled her eyes, but then shrugged her shoulders, not giving any more complaints.

"Well that settles it then!" Re said, standing up and putting his hands into the pockets of his red hoodie, "Let's get going!"

The three of them then walked in the direction that Namra said the dorms were, Daisy and Re conversing together, while Ebony lagged behind, uninterested in the conversation.

"They seemed interesting," Wai commented.

"Yes they did," replied Namra with a smile.

"What's with the smile?"

"Oh nothing," Namra spoke, dismissing the question, "come on, let's get back to your training."

* * *

Porphyrios ran his hand through his long, purple tinted black hair as he stared at the computer screen. He and Sylvia had been in the library for most of the morning. Since their encounter last semester, the two of them had been researching the ones who they had battled every chance they got, with little success. The only things they had found out so far was that the huge bear Faunus had been a part of the White Fang until he had been broken out of prison, the man who had broken him out was the same guy whom they had encountered at the warehouse, and, although it took some digging to find it, there had been a few robberies at the Schnee Dust Company that occurred after the Faunus had been broken out. Porphyrios rubbed his tired gray eyes as his pangolin tail swished back and forth. He then stroked his black beard as he began to think.

"I can't believe we can't find anybody in the criminal database that matches who we saw," spoke Sylvia, slumping slightly in her chair, "I mean the big guy was with the White Fang, but other than that, there's nothing on the other two."

Porphyrios turned toward Sylvia. They were both wearing their Beacon Uniforms and looked exhausted. Sylvia wore her hair down rather than in her usual ponytail, her hair cascading down to her shoulders haphazardly. Her green eyes had slight bags under them after staying up late with Porphyrios last night while they researched. Porphyrios had the same bags under his eyes as well and his hair was also disheveled, but only slightly.

"There's nothing here Porphyrios," Sylvia continued, "other than an increase in White Fang activity, there's nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe Ozpin was right to dismiss the issue; maybe we should just let the police handle this. They would certainly have just as much information as we do right now."

"No," Porphyrios replied, "if you want to give up that's fine, but I know there's something more to this. Maybe they're working with the White Fang."

"We already scratched that Porphyrios," Sylvia mentioned, "If they were with the White Fang there would have been much more security at the warehouse. There's nothing to find, no trail, no records, nothing."

"Then the police are gonna find the same thing," reasoned Porphyrios, "which is why we need to continue looking."

"What do you think _we're_ gonna find that the police won't?" Sylvia inquired, exasperatedly, "This has nothing to do with us, and we're not getting anywhere, our teammates realized that a while ago when we asked them about it. They're not worried about it so why should we?"

"Because we need to protect them."

"From what? As far as we've seen there's nothing on the record aside from the Faunus. Plus classes start tomorrow, and I'm not willing to sacrifice study time for what has become a dead end."

"Fine," Porphyrios conceded, "if you want to give up then so be it, but I'm continuing."

"I'm not giving up," Sylvia stated, steel in her voice, "I'm merely realizing that this is pointless."

And with a swish of her hair, she picked up her stuff and left the library.

Porphyrios turned back to the screen.

_I won't give up on this, _Porphyrios determined, _not as long as they're still out there._

* * *

Cole sat back at his desk in his black bowler hat and black suit and tie, pouring over maps and charts of data. He had expanded his operation since he had encountered the students of Beacon, he now had access to some of the best illegal equipment he could get his hands on, and he had several scientists and engineers working for him now. He was finally close to finishing one of his main goals.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Cole called.

The door opened and a skinny muscular boy walked in. He had short, spiky black hair and cold blue eyes. He wore a black tank-top, ratty old blue jeans and red sneakers. Wrapped around his arms were black fire tattoos that shimmered against his skin.

He looked at Cole and grinned sinisterly.

"I take it the test was a success," Cole stated simply.

"More than a success," the boy replied, "I feel like I could wipe this place off the map."

"Don't get over-confident," Cole scolded, "let me see the handiwork."

The boy removed his black tank-top to reveal more tattoos. On his chest was a black dragon and on his back was a giant fireball. Like his arm tattoos, they shimmered against his skin. Cole walked around the boy, his cold gray eyes examining the work.

"And the other test subjects?" he asked curiously.

"Most of them died in the process," the boy answered proudly, "the ones who survived are unconscious and recovering."

"Good," Cole confirmed, "Tell Professor Albin to continue as planned once Indigo and Roano come back from their mission."

The boy smirked again, "Will do, Cole."

The boy walked out to report to the professor as Cole went back to his chair. He picked up his scroll and dialed a number. He waited a few moments until a warped voice answered.

"You should really send me a message before you call me," the voice said, slightly irritated.

"Did I get you at a bad time?"

"Nothing I couldn't get away from," the voice continued, "but for future reference send a message first."

"Fine," replied Cole, "how's everything at Beacon?"

"Quiet for the most part," the voice answered, "however, the silver haired girl and the dark skinned Faunus are looking further into what happened at the warehouse."

"And?"

"Doesn't seem like they're making any headway, but I'm not entirely sure. Other than that, the rest of their teams are going about life normally."

"Find out how much progress they've made, it's vital that they don't interfere with our plans."

"Understood," the voice responded.

Cole hung up the call just as Coralia walked into his office with her usual orange silk shirt with floral patterning and long black skirt. Her long red hair hung past her shoulders while her bangs covered one of her blue eyes.

"Cole," she spoke in a stiff voice, "I came to tell you that the collars are ready and operational."

Cole smiled coldly, "Good that means we are almost ready for phase two. You're in charge for the week."

Cole slowly stood up and walked to the door as Coralia gave him a confused look.

"Why? Where are you going?"

Cole looked at Coralia and smiled again.

"I have to go see an old friend."


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Notes: Hey guys! sorry about the delay, this chapter required some special attention in order to finish. Anyway I hope you enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 15: Rumors

His giant claymore sword clashed against the other boy's katana. Despite the claymores immense size, the man with the katana held his ground against the blow of the giant sword. Porphyrios watched from the stands as the two men clashed. He was sitting in the stands as his combat class proceeded. Because of the Vytal Festival, students from other schools were participating in the class, which made for some good combat practice.

The man with the katana pushed back against the claymore, distancing himself away from the blade. The man with the claymore staggered back slightly, but soon recovered. He had long dirty blonde hair, dark green eyes and light, slightly tan skin. He was very well built and wore a bronze colored sweatshirt with the Beacon Academy logo on the front and black baggy jeans as well as white sneakers. Porphyrios remembered that the man's name was Guilford, as Glynda had stated at the beginning of the fight.

The other man had short, red hair, and silky white skin. His eyes were bright green and had a slight build but with well-defined muscles. He was only a few inches shorter than Guilford and seemed to have the disadvantage in terms of strength. He wore a half-buttoned, red trench coat with a white button up dress shirt underneath. He also wore tan khakis and black shoes. Porphyrios knew this man as Asita.

_He's the guy Basil, Aurelia, and Celestia met the other day,_ Porphyrios remembered; _let's see if he's any good in a fight._

The two students stood staring at each other from opposite ends of the arena, trying to anticipate the other's next move. Quickly, Guilford charged in with his claymore swinging straight at Asita. Grinning, Asita deftly dodged the attack and sliced at Guilford's exposed side. Guilford staggered slightly, but recovered quickly enough to swing at Asita once more. Asita ducked under the blade and sliced at Guilford again. This time, Guilford stepped back to dodge the attack. He then split his claymore in half, as the two halves of the blade quickly changed into two carbine rifles. He then fired several shots at Asita, who was able to deflect most of the shots with his katana, but still took a few hits. Asita then grabbed his sheath, using it to block the rest of the bullets as Guilford charged in, switching back to his claymore. The blow connected and sent Asita flying back towards the wall. Digging his heels into the ground, Asita slowed to a stop. He then placed his sheath back on his belt and reached for a red cartridge next to it. Ejecting a black cartridge from his sword, he quickly sheathed it and placed the red cartridge into the hilt.

While this happened, Guilford had split his claymore in two once again, taking careful aim at Asita, waiting for the opportune moment to fire. He found his opportunity as Asita charged at him, one hand on his sheath and the other on the hilt of his sheathed katana. Guilford fired several bullets at Asita's legs, trying to trip him up, but failing as Asita quickly jumped and unsheathed his katana, letting loose an arc of fire from the blade. Guilford quickly shielded his face with his two carbines. Taking advantage of his opponent's reflex, Asita landed right behind Guilford and released another arc of fire at his back. Guilford was sent head over heels into one of the side walls, but he got up shortly after, showing his opponent that the fight was far from over.

However, Porphyrios became distracted from the fight at that point, as he overheard two students talking in the stands. Curiously, he listened in, wondering what was more interesting than the fight at hand. As he listened, he overheard the two discussing what they had heard about Asita, which school he was from, and whether or not he was a good fighter. The discussion then turned to Asita's semblance and how some people said that he had 'Grimm like powers' and had 'possibly killed several men to attain this.'

_Rumors, _Porphyrios thought angrily, _filthy rumors that have been spread around by people who know little to nothing about a person. _

Porphyrios scowled and then turned back to the match.

_Why do people bother with such false information? _Porphyrios wondered, _yes perhaps sometimes rumors may seem like truth, but why trust information that isn't proven by fact._

Porphyrios sighed. Being a very serious and quiet person, Porphyrios had heard quite a few rumors about himself as well. He had heard how he had 'grown up in a seedy area.' Others had said how he had 'participated in many crimes in his child hood, making him a very dangerous man.' Some even said how he was 'the lost prince of an ancient kingdom long forgotten and well hidden.'

_Not sure how that last one came to be, _Porphyrios pondered curiously, _it's completely absurd._ _Even the ones that are slightly plausible are still far from the truth._

Porphyrios sighed again and thought back on his past.

_The truth, _he thought, _is much worse._

* * *

The boy woke up and quickly got out of bed. He glanced at the clock. It read 6 am, meaning that he was just on time for work. He quickly got dressed into a dirty brown short sleeved tunic and ratty gray pants. He put on his black boots and looked at himself in the mirror. He was relatively tall with short scraggily black hair which was slightly tinted purple. He had brown skin, well-defined muscles and dark gray eyes. He walked out of his room and sat down at the kitchen table to eat breakfast. His mom was already up and eating hers as well. She was a tired woman, with bags under her dark blue eyes. Her hair was a light brown, like her skin, with bits of gray here and there. She wore a thin black robe, because she had not gotten ready for the day yet. She had a cup of coffee in her hand as she smiled wearily at her son.

"Are you going to be late tonight Porphyrios?" She asked.

"Not sure," Porphyrios responded between bites of egg, "There's a lot of dust to be collected still so we could be there for a while."

"I really wish you wouldn't do so much work," his mother pleaded, "between this, patrol, and the blacksmith you rarely have time to do anything else."

"Mom please, with dad gone we need the extra income," Porphyrios reasoned, "No one else is gonna help us, so I have no choice."

His mom sighed, "Okay, but please be careful."

Porphyrios smiled slightly, "Don't worry I will."

Porphyrios then stood up and walked out the door, waving goodbye to his mother as he headed to work.

He walked out into the town. It was a small town outside the city of Mistral, away from the safety and protection of the kingdom. Porphyrios walked down the dirt roads, looking around at the houses and stores on either side of him. He had seen them before, but it was always nice to look around and observe new things happening. His house was near the outskirts of the town, but that didn't mean much considering that most of the town was close together and easy to get to.

"Hey Porph!"

Porphyrios turned to see his good friend Stormy running up to him.

Stormy had long smoky gray hair, olive skin and mocha brown eyes. She also had well-defined muscles and wore similar clothes to that of Porphyrios, but hers were much dirtier. She was around the same age as Porphyrios was but she looked at least a few years older.

"Hey Stormy," Porphyrios replied, "How are you doing?"

Stormy's smile faded, "Dad's angry at mom again and I nearly missed my alarm for work," She replied solemnly, "so, not great so far."

Porphyrios frowned, "Sorry to hear that. You know you can stay at our house anytime you need to, my mom wouldn't mind."

Stormy gave Porphyrios a half smile, "Thanks, but I'll be okay, just gotta get through it, one day at a time."

Porphyrios grinned back, _One day at a time,_ he thought as they made their way to the gray bus that would take them to the dust mines.

* * *

Porphyrios' reminiscence was interrupted as once again the two warriors clashed, blade to blade in the arena. Asita grabbed his sheath again as it transformed into a black short sword. Using it Asita quickly disarmed his opponent and placed his katana against Guilford's throat.

"Well done both of you," Glynda commented, "you should both have no trouble qualifying for the tournament."

Asita bowed to Glynda as show of thanks while Guilford simply nodded, too breathless to speak.

"Alright," Glynda turned her attention to the crowd, "who would like to participate in the last match of this class."

A boy with short, light gray hair stood up immediately. The boy wore a gray button down shirt, dark gray khakis and brown boat shoes. He looked annoyed about something.

"I will, and I'd like to fight Asita," the boy declared pointing his finger at Asita who was still standing in the arena.

"Icarius, Asita has just finished a fight," Glynda stated, "pick someone else."

"No, I want to fight him."

"Why would you want to fight me?" Asita inquired curiously.

"Because you've proven to be a slightly worthy opponent after beating my teammate Guilford," Icarius stated, "you must think you're so tough after that, but I'm gonna knock you down a peg by showing you how strong we really are."

Asita smiled slightly, "I would be polite and say that's an honorable reason for a fight, but the truth is, it's not. You clearly think your team is better than anybody else's, and wish to prove it despite it not being true. So the answer is no, I won't feed into your oversized ego."

Icarius smirked, "Well you refusing to battle me just proves how inferior you truly are, can't say I expected any more from Atlas students."

Now a girl stood up from the crowd. She had short, coarse black hair and hazel eyes. She wore a black hooded form fitting jacket, skinny jeans and running shoes. She had three different silver piercings on her ear, a black face scarf around her neck and a black panther tail that rested on the ground below her.

"If you think you're so much better than Atlesian students, why don't you prove it by fighting me?" the girl spoke.

"Ebony there's no need for that," Asita said calmly.

"Yea, stay out of this girl," Icarius warned, "if you know what's good for you."

Ebony glared at Icarius, "If you don't mind Professor, I would like to fight Icarius."

Glynda blinked warily, wondering if she should allow this to continue any further.

"Very well," she said, "Icarius, you have your opponent."

Icarius grimaced.

"Fine," he said begrudgingly and then he smirked, "If only to put this girl in her place."

The two students entered the arena. Icarius drew his curved talwar sword and held it forward with his right hand. Ebony pulled her facemask over her mouth and nose and then unsheathed her thin bladed short sword. She held the weapon in her right hand so that it faced away from the middle of her body. The fight began and both students circled each other, trying to anticipate the other's first move. Icarius stared at his opponent, trying to look for any clue as to where she was going to strike. However, with her scarf covering most of her face and the rest of her body being completely still aside from her circling, it was near impossible to detect any kind of clue as to where she would strike. Ebony knew this and used it to her advantage.

She quickly sprung from her spot and was upon Icarius before he could even react. Ebony sliced him across the stomach, sending him straight into the wall. Icarius hit the wall hard, but recovered just in time to block the next attack with his blade. Icarius then kicked out at Ebony, hitting her in the chest. Using the momentum of the kick, Ebony back flipped out of Icarius' attack range. She then grabbed a shuriken at her belt and threw it at her opponent. Icarius sidestepped out of the way as the shuriken exploded in a cloud of fire dust, making Icarius stagger back slightly. Ebony used this opportunity to charge at Icarius again with her sword. Once again Ebony's blow was blocked by her opponent's blade, but this time Ebony followed up with knee to Icarius' stomach. With the wind knocked out of him, Icarius hunched over, giving Ebony the chance kick Icarius into another wall. He staggered as he tried to stand up after the onslaught. He glared at his opponent as she stood there, waiting for his next move. Icarius then decided to change tactics.

He pressed a button on his sword which lengthened the blade and transformed it into a sniper rifle. Icarius stared down the scope and fired several shots at his opponent. Ebony blocked the first few blows with her sword but as the shots continued, she became over whelmed and took a few hits. Icarius fired one more shot which knocked Ebony's sword out of her hand. She grabbed a shuriken from her belt, but that was also shot out of her hand.

_Good shot, _thought Ebony as she crouched down low, her panther tail swishing back and forth, _but let's see you hit me after this._

Icarius aimed down the sight for another shot as Ebony lowered her facemask and blew into the air. From her breath, black smoke formed all around her, obscuring most of the arena from view. Icarius stood surprised, looking around for his target, but he could see nothing within the black smoke. Back stepping slightly, Icarius fired a few shots into the smoke, hoping to hit her somehow, but to no avail. Then, as if out of nowhere, Ebony leapt from the smoke and slammed her heel straight into the top of Icarius' head. Stunned by the blow, Icarius hit the ground hard and didn't move for quite some time. Ebony stepped back as the smoke cleared from the arena. Icarius stood up very slowly as Glynda called the match.

"It looks like Ebony is the winner of this match," Glynda said, "You should have no trouble qualifying for the tournament."

Ebony bowed slightly toward Glynda and went back to her seat.

"Icarius next time try to leave your vendettas off the battle field. Lack of focus on your opponent is what led to your defeat in the first place."

Icarius glowered at her, but made no comment as he picked up his sniper rifle and walked back to his seat.

"That's all we have time for today," Glynda announced, "Please continue to train your hardest for the tournament. Dismissed."

Porphyrios stood up along with the rest of his team.

"That was an interesting fight," pointed out Basil.

"Yea," replied Porphyrios, "she's gonna be hard to take down."

"Well I'm sure we can do it," Celestia chimed in, "we're just gonna have to train hard for it."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Aurelia agreed.

Porphyrios followed his team, his pangolin tail trailing behind him as he began to think more about his past.

* * *

Namra was at peace.

She was in a field of yellow and purple flowers underneath a bright blue sky. She gazed off to the horizon and saw even more flowers. Laughing, she ran towards the horizon as fast as she could. After minutes of running she finally collapsed in the bed of flowers, giggling.

She then came out of her trance. She was in the Beacon Academy library sitting in a cross-legged position on the floor. Next to her was Wai, also sitting cross-legged on the floor and deep in a trance. She smiled slightly as she sensed the blissful energy from her friend.

_I wonder what he's thinking about,_ she thought to herself as she stood up from her position to face in front of Wai.

Almost as if on cue, Wai awoke from his trance and looked up at Namra who was standing over him.

"How'd I do?" Wai asked tentatively.

Namra smirked at his question, "Wai, as I've said before, the meditation is supposed to calm the mind and keep you more focused on the control and amplification on your aura. You're the only one who can judge how well you do."

"True," Wai spoke as he stood up, "but does it seem like my aura is stronger?"

Namra chuckled, "If that's what you're worried about, yes. It does seem stronger than it was, but it's your control over your aura that will decide whether or not you will be able to control your semblance."

"Ok, that makes sense," Wai replied, "Anything else for today?"

"No, I think that should be it today," Namra responded as she thought it over, "but a couple more days of this meditation should be enough to get you prepared for the next part of the training. Normally it would take longer, but thankfully you have more experience than I did when I underwent this."

"Sounds good teach," Wai said with a smirk on his lips.

Namra giggled slightly at the nickname, "Come one, let's go back to the dorm."

The hallways were crowded as students were heading either back to their dorms after a long day of classes, to the library to do homework, or to the training room to get in some extra sparring for the practice trials in Professor Goodwitch's combat class.

_Hopefully I'll be good enough for the tournament, _Namra thought to herself as she walked with Wai to the dorms.

However, as they walked, Namra overheard several students making comments as they walked by. Namra had become used to this by now. Being blind, her other senses had become sharper as she relied more on those senses than her sight, meaning that she overheard most conversations in the hallway in between classes. Because of this she heard every single judgment about her being blind. Having been in Beacon Academy for a while meant that the discussions about her died down a bit, and recently she had been hearing a lot about her teammate.

"Did you hear about the blue-haired kid? Supposedly he destroyed an entire training room at school."

"I hear his old school kicked him out for being too violent and destroying part of the school."

"Apparently he attacked some upper classman for no reason and nearly killed him."

"He should be removed from this school! No one wants him here."

_These people are just vicious and demeaning , _Namra assumed, _it's true that Wai attacked a student and destroyed a weight set in the training room, but it was all an accident, it doesn't mean that Wai deserves such harsh rumors spread about him._

_ Besides, _continued Namra, slightly annoyed, _this is Beacon Academy! One of the cafeteria's was wrecked in a food fight between two teams. I hardly think one weight set is in any form significant._

Namra sighed; _I guess people just enjoy stretching the truth. At least Wai doesn't seem to notice the discussions._

"What's up?" Wai inquired.

"Hmm?"

"You sighed," Wai pointed out, "Usually that means that you have something on your mind. So what's up?"

Namra smiled at her friend, "Nothing," she responded in her calm voice, "just thinking about all the work we have to do this semester."

"Yea," Wai nodded in agreement, "Especially with the tournament this year. Gonna be quite the semester."

They continued to talk about the upcoming work load and the tournament as they approached their dorm. But Namra couldn't help but worry about the amount of rumors being spread about Wai and how far these rumors might go as they spread throughout the academy.

* * *

Porphyrios growled in frustration.

He was sitting in front of the computer, once again searching for anything on the people they fought last semester. And once again, he had come up with nothing. No matter which website he searched, he couldn't come up with anything other than what he already knew.

He leaned back in his chair. _Damn,_ he thought, _either they've covered their tracks really well, or there really is nothing to worry about._

He shook his head of that last thought, _there's gotta be something there, _Porphyrios reasoned, _the only ones who would be after Basil's family would be the White Fang and there wasn't enough security there for them to be associated with the White Fang. _

Porphyrios scratched his beard. _There has to be something more about this than just a simple kidnapping. If it was, there wouldn't be such a lack of information on them._

Porphyrios leaned forward, _unless I'm searching for the wrong thing._

He began typing furiously, searching for a certain site. He found what he was looking for and clicked on a government site on White Fang criminals. Viewing the page Porphyrios noticed the information was locked out for those who didn't have access.

_Let's see if this still works, _Porphyrios wondered as he typed in an account name and password. His request was denied and once again Porphyrios sighed.

_Figures, _Porphyrios reasoned, _it has been six years since he's been gone, they clearly would've removed his account._

Something on the site then caught his eye. Underneath a section labeled "affiliations" was some sort of news station. Porphyrios clicked the link and was taken to the news station's site. On it was all of the current news specifically on the White Fang. He then clicked on the search bar and typed in "bear Faunus".

He hit enter and saw as several results appeared in front of him. He scrolled down them until he found a news article on the break out of a bear Faunus. He clicked it and read through it. Most of the stuff there was what he already knew, but below it were related articles, one of which caught his eye. He clicked it and was taken to the next news article, which read "Roano's reign of terror ends."

He read:

_Today, the biggest criminal in the White Fang was captured after his attempted attack on the Schnee Dust Company. Roano Brooten will be tried in the coming weeks for his crimes against the community and humanity itself. The bear Faunus has been involved in several robberies, murders and destruction of property._

The article was dated eight years ago and went on to tell of several of his other crimes, as well as the time of his trial, but Porphyrios had already learned something he didn't know before. The bear Faunus' name was Roano Brooten.

_Why didn't I look for this before? _Thought Porphyrios furiously, _I guess we were so focused on how they weren't involved with the White Fang that we completely forgot to check the bear Faunus' connection to the White Fang._

Porphyrios looked at the clock which read 9:45 pm.

_I should get back to the dorm room,_ Porphyrios realized; _I have to get up early for class tomorrow._

He got up, grabbed his stuff and walked out of the library. As he walked, he contemplated the new information he got.

_Now that I know his name, can search for him and see if I can find anybody he's connected to._

He smiled to himself, _and then I can find out who those other people were as well._

"Hahahaha"

Porphyrios turned and saw a few students laughing jovially at a joke that a boy in green clothes just made. The four of them looked so happy together, as if nothing else in the world mattered except their friendship.

He smiled wistfully to himself as he thought about to his old friends from back home.

_We didn't have much, but we did have each other._

* * *

The bus from the mines had just arrived in the village. A boy with purple tinted short hair and a dirty brown tunic and tattered gray pants got off the bus with a gray haired girl by his side. They chatted as they walked toward the cluster of houses.

"Hard work today, huh Stormy?" the boy with purple tinted hair commented to the girl.

"Yea," Stormy replied, "but I've heard its worse in other areas. At least we don't have to work _there,_ right Porph?"

"True," Porphyrios decided, "but it could be a lot better."

They walked down the street for a bit longer until they stopped outside one of the more ramshackled houses on the block. Two voices could be heard arguing violently inside. Porphyrios looked at Stormy and saw her eyes tearing up slightly.

"Is it ok if I stay at your house tonight Porph?" she asked solemnly.

"Of course," Porphyrios nodded, "Forrest will be coming over for a bit before his patrol shift so we won't mind."

They walked further down towards Porphyrios' house.

"Thanks," Stormy said quietly.

"Any time," Porphyrios replied smiling.

He put his arm around her in comfort as they continued the rest of the way in silence.

Soon they were sitting in front of a campfire in Porphyrios' backyard as the sun was setting. Forrest was sitting with them. He had short spiky brown hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a ratty dark green hoodie and ripped blue jeans. His feet were bare showing his dirty white skin. He was only a few years older than the two of them meaning that he was able to guard the borders of the village. He was currently telling a story about one of his nights on patrol.

"So we were heading back in from patrol," he explained excitedly, "and we heard this noise coming from the bushes. So I asked my partner if he heard it and he said that he did. So we stood quietly and listened closely. Then we heard it again from the bushes. We walked over toward them and saw…a giant bear monster!"

"No way!" Stormy cried, "Those don't exist do they? I thought you only fought wolves"

"Usually. This was the first bear we had seen. Our captain told us it was a different type of Grimm creature from what we usually fought."

"So there are other types of Grimm?" Porphyrios asked curiously.

"I guess," Forrest shrugged, "all that matters is that we attacked and killed it so it wouldn't attack the village."

"That's crazy Forrest," Stormy pointed out, "what if there's some sort of elephant Grimm and it crushes you. I don't want you to die out there."

Forrest chuckled heartily, "Please, there's no elephant Grimm out there, besides I'd be too quick for it. So how's it with you Porph?"

Porphyrios shrugged, "Same as always. Mother's worried about me, work is hard and we're barely getting by."

Forrest sighed, "That sucks man. Why don't you just leave?"

"What?" Porphyrios inquired.

"Why don't you leave this village and go to Mistral. I'm sure the Mistral government can help you with that, after all your father was in a pretty high position when he worked there, I'm sure they can get you and your mother out of this place and on a train to Mistral."

Porphyrios scoffed at his friend, "Do you really think they'd help me just because my father worked for them? They wouldn't offer us a single coin. When my father died, all they did was offer us a hand shake and condolences, and you think they would help us get out of this place? All they care about are the resources and money they take from us."

Forrest frowned slightly, "Sorry Porph. I forgot about how badly they treated you and your mother when your dad died."

"It's fine," Porphyrios reassured his friend, "Besides, I wouldn't want to leave you guys here; you're the only friends I've got."

Forrest laughed, "Don't get sappy on us Porph. We might just have to tie you up and ask where the real Porph is."

They all laughed for a while at the joke and then fell silent. All that could be heard was the crackling of the fire.

"Well I should get going," Forrest said as he got up, "My captain will be upset if I'm late for patrol."

"Don't run into any more bear Grimm out there," Porphyrios called as his friend walked off.

"Don't worry," Forrest called back, "only snake Grimm tonight."

Porphyrios chuckled as he sat next to Stormy by the campfire.

As the night dragged on, Porphyrios noticed that Stormy was playing with her hair, not speaking and staring at the ground.

"What's on your mind?" Porphyrios asked.

Stormy looked up with somber eyes, "Can you promise me something?"

Porphyrios looked quizzically at her, "Perhaps, depends on the promise."

Stormy looked away from him and into the fire, "Can you promise me that when we all get enough money, we'll leave this place and move to Mistral. Promise me that we'll all live together, you, me, your mom and Forrest. Just us and no one else."

Porphyrios smiled at his longtime friend. He turned her face to look into her eyes.

"I promise you, that when we get enough money, we will leave this place and all of the bad people here. We'll go to Mistral and live together happily, just the four of us."

Stormy smiled for the first time since this morning.

"Thanks Porph," Stormy said graciously, "for everything."

Porphyrios smiled at her and put his arm around her. She snuggled up next to him, keeping them both warm as the night got colder.

"Can you promise one more thing Porph?"

"Sure."

"Can you promise me that everything will be alright?"

Porphyrios smiled again, "Everything is gonna be alright, I promise."

* * *

Porphyrios sighed as he walked back to his dorm.

_If only it were that simple Stormy,_ thought Porphyrios reflectively as he put his key card into the doorway, unlocking it, _So many things have changed._

He opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Basil, Aurelia, and Celestia laughing loudly as they sat on their beds. They all looked so happy just being in each other's company, talking and joking like they usually do when they were together.

Basil turned and saw him, "Hey Porph," he said with a smile, "Good to see you back from studying."

Porphyrios smirked slightly at his teammate's care-free grin. He sat down on his own bed as he listened to his teammates talk more.

As he listened, he remembered something that the man in the bowler hat said to them last semester:

_Your friendships will break in due time._

_ Well I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that never happens,_ decided Porphyrios as he continued to enjoy his friends' company.

_It may not be perfect, but it could be a lot worse._


	16. Chapter 16

**Author Notes: Once again, sorry I took so long to post this chapter, next few should be uploaded quicker this time. (hopefully). Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!**

What It Takes

Chapter 16: Trust

"Hey Basil! Wait up!"

Basil turned and saw Re running up to him in a tank top and gym shorts.

"Hey Re," Basil said as Re caught up to him, "What's going on?"

"Not much," He said running a hand through his short blond hair, "just finished some boxing lessons with Wai, not sure if they'll be any use to me but you never know."

Basil nodded in agreement, "It's always good to learn new things, especially for combat."

Re smiled as they continued to walk through the hallway, "So where did you just come from?"

"Professor Port's class," Basil replied, "told us another intriguing hunting story from his childhood."

Re laughed, "Of course he did! Was there a moral to the story?"

"Actually he didn't get to the end," Basil explained, "the bell rang before he could finish."

"Ah well, I'm sure you'll find out next class," Re reassured him, clapping his shoulder.

"Yea probably."

"So, did you hear about the dance coming up for the Vytal Festival?" Re asked exuberantly.

"Yea I did," Basil answered, "what about it?"

"Well, who ya gonna ask?"

"What?" Basil questioned, confused.

"Who are you going to ask to the dance?" Re inquired again, "I'm sure there are several ladies out there that would love to go to the dance with you."

"Why can't I just go and be with my friends?" Basil wondered, remembering the dances that he and his friends had attended at Signal.

"I guess you could do that," Re replied, "but I'm sure there is _some_ huntress in this school that you'd like to take to the dance, am I right?"

Basil blushed at the thought, "Well…I mean…I don't know…"

"I knew it!" Re exclaimed, "Now all you gotta do is muster up the courage to ask her!"

Basil rolled his eyes at Re, "Yea 'cause it's just as easy as that," he said sarcastically.

"Never said it was easy," Re stated, "but it's not the most complicated thing in the world."

"Who are you gonna ask?" Basil questioned Re.

"That's easy, I'm gonna ask Daisy."

Basil looked puzzled, "The blonde girl from Atlas? The one you met a few days ago?"

"That's the one!" Re responded with a smile.

"But, you pretty much just met her. Don't you think it's kinda out of the blue to ask her to a dance?"

"Well, I'm not gonna ask her now," Re retorted, slightly offended that his friend would think him so bold, "I'm gonna talk to her more first, get to know her better, let her know me better, and then I'll ask her."

Basil looked at him skeptically and Re rolled his eyes.

"Trust me Basil," reassured Re, "I've gotten this down to a science, you should be more concerned about yourself and how you're gonna ask your lady."

Basil blushed again, but thankfully the conversation ended as Sylvia came up behind them and started talking to Re about study times.

_Glad that conversation is over_, thought Basil as they continued to walk down the corridor, _however he's right, I gotta start thinking about how to ask her to the dance._

* * *

Wai stood at the edge of a vast forest. Across from him, amongst the dark trees, stood a figure with a black cloak, staring intently at Wai. The figure turned and ran into the forest. Wai followed it, angry about something he had forgotten about. He heard a voice calling out to him, but he ignored it as he was engulfed by the woods. The trees thickened around him as he pursued the mysterious figure. Eventually he emerged into a small clearing, standing across from the hooded figure who, once again began staring intently at Wai, his long blue hair flowing in the light breeze. The figure spoke, and although Wai could not hear what it said, it made him angry. Wai lunged forward, extending the blades from his gauntlets and striking the figure. However, the figure dodged the attack easily, as if it were gliding along with the wind. The figure continued to taunt him as it dodged each attack, making no attempt to strike back. Furious, Wai struck with increased ferocity at the figure, losing focus as the anger slowly consumed him. Red began to seep into his vision and something in the back of his mind begged him to snap out of it, but even that was lost to the anger that flowed through him. His eyes burned like a bonfire while his entire body was surrounded by a brilliant red aura. The figure laughed as it continued to dodge Wai's attacks with complete ease. He heard more voices call out to him as he fought with the figure. The figure backed away from Wai's recent swipe as he followed up with a stab at the figures stomach. The figure jumped out of the way, as Wai's blade buried itself into the thing behind it. His vision came back to normal and he saw, to his horror, his blade buried into the chest of a young boy with black hair and eyes. His face was shocked as he looked into Wai's face, his eyes distant and unfocused.

"Wai…" the boy spoke faintly.

Then the boy's face warped into Namra's face.

"How could you do this…?" she spoke, and then she changed into Sylvia.

"We trusted you!" She yelled angrily, and then she became Re.

"And you betrayed us!"

The body then dissolved into a black mist, and an unbearable scream filled the forest, echoing around, and forcing Wai to cover his ears, but it continued, even louder than before.

Wai opened his eyes and gasped loudly. He was sitting cross legged on the floor of the library in his usual leather jacket and jeans. He was covered in a cold sweat from the nightmare he had just had.

"You alright?"

Wai jumped at the sound of the girl's voice. He turned and saw Namra sitting next to him in the same position in her brown cloak and baggy black pants. Wai stared into her blindfolded face as he tried to calm down from what he just saw, not wanting to worry his friend.

"You're shivering," Namra pointed out, concerned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Wai stated quickly, "just a little chilly in here is all."

Namra frowned, not truly believing him considering it was fairly warm in the building.

"Why didn't you come out of the meditation when I called your name?" Namra asked, deciding to press a bit, hoping to find the reason why Wai was lying to her.

"I guess I was too deep in the trance," Wai lied again, "Couldn't hear your voice."

"And I'm assuming that's why you're covered in sweat and shivering as well right?" Namra questioned, raising her eyebrow.

"Had a bit of a bad dream while in the trance," Wai responded, deciding to tell her part of the truth so she would stop asking questions, "It's nothing to worry about."

"Uh huh…" Namra replied, still unconvinced, but she decided to drop the issue for now, "Well I think that's enough for today. We should head back to the dorm, it's getting late."

"Y-yea," Wai replied, still shaken from his nightmare.

They began to walk out of the library and back towards the dorm.

_Why now?_ Wai thought to himself as they walked, _Ever since my team agreed to help me with my semblance I've been free of that nightmare, so why is it coming back now?_

_ Because you're afraid,_ a voice in his head replied, _you're afraid you'll hurt one of them like you did before._

_ But that's why I'm training, so I won't hurt anyone with my semblance again._

_ Do you really think that'll work? No, you can't control it. You're doomed to hurt everyone you care about, whether you want to or not._

_ No, that's not true. I'm going to learn to control it. I won't hurt my friends._

_Tell that to Lonan…_

Wai's eyes teared up, but he wiped them away swiftly.

_No, _Wai steeled himself; _I won't let that happen again._

Wai entered his dorm with Namra and was greeted happily by Re and Sylvia.

Wai smiled at his friends.

_I'm around some of the best friends I've ever had, _Wai thought, _and I refuse to let my semblance break them away from me._

* * *

Basil ducked underneath the blade of Aurelia's ax. Porphyrios charged at him as Basil parried Celestia's katana away. Seeing Porphyrios charge, Basil swung his trident, intercepting both of his sickles. He couldn't stay in that position long as Aurelia and Celestia both swung at him. Quickly, Basil pushed Porphyrios away and back-rolled underneath both of the incoming attacks. Taking this opportunity, Celestia followed up by striking at Porphyrios, sending him into the ground. Getting up quickly, Porphyrios blocked the next swing of Celestia's sword, while Aurelia and Basil exchanged blows between their weapons. They had been doing this kind of training for a while now, pitting themselves against one another all at once. Porphyrios decided it would be a good idea to prepare for free-for-all battles considering they could have to compete in matches like this in the tournament.

_This is certainly working well, _Basil noted as he blocked another strong blow from Aurelia's ax, _not only are we exposing ourselves to different types of battles, but we are also learning to keep aware of our surroundings._

Another series of strikes came from Aurelia and Basil blocked each one of them with difficulty.

_Man she hits like a truck, _Basil thought as he blocked another jarring hit from her ax.

The battle kept up like this until Basil finally was able to push away Aurelia's ax. Taking advantage of this, Basil stabbed at her stomach, knocking her off balance and causing her to hit the ground. Stepping back, Basil looked over at Celestia and Porphyrios fighting it out on the other side of the sparring room. Celestia was gracefully dodging Porphyrios' brute strikes as she attacked with her own weapon as well. Porphyrios tried to accustom himself to Celestia's attack pattern, but was unable to as Celestia kept switching up her pattern without skipping a beat. Her dark pink hair flowed beautifully as she continued to rain down blow after blow against Porphyrios. Basil smiled as he admired his friends' fighting style.

WHAM!

Not paying attention to his surroundings, Basil had not seen Aurelia get up and deftly swing her ax straight into his stomach. Not expecting the blow, Basil fell onto the mat, the wind knocked out of him. Porphyrios and Celestia, hearing the noise, looked up from their fight to see Basil on the ground with Aurelia standing over him.

"I'm so sorry Basil!" she exclaimed, "I didn't realize you weren't paying attention!"

"Basil come on!" Porphyrios scolded, "You have to always be paying attention during combat, no matter what!"

"Sorry," Basil apologized sheepishly, "I'll make sure to pay more attention."

Porphyrios grunted and returned to fighting Celestia.

Aurelia offered him her hand and helped Basil to his feet.

"Not your fault," Basil stated, "I should've payed attention."

"What happened to make you lose focus?" asked Aurelia curiously.

Basil blushed slightly, "Nothing just spaced out for a bit is all."

He readied a combat stance.

"Come on," Basil urged, "Let's continue."

Aurelia smiled and readied a stance of her own as they continued to spar.

After about half an hour, they decided to break for the night. So, they gathered up their stuff and walked back to the dorm. On the way there they began to talk about the upcoming Vytal Festival and what they thought it would be like. Porphyrios did not partake in the conversation, choosing instead to lag behind in silence, lost in his own thoughts.

"Do you think they'll have some sort of fairground where people can hang out in between the tournament matches?" asked Celestia curiously.

"Probably," replied Basil with a smile, "I can't imagine the only form of entertainment being the tournament, it would get boring."

"Maybe there'll be games where you can play for prizes," Aurelia pointed out, "What do you think Porph?"

Porphyrios remained silent, still lost in thought.

"Porph? You in there?"

"Hmm?" Porphyrios grunted as he was snapped out of his thoughts.

"You alright?" Aurelia asked, "You haven't said anything since we left the sparring room."

"I'm fine," Porphyrios reassured her, "just thinking, is all."

"About your investigation?" inquired Basil.

"Perhaps," Porphyrios growled.

"You know you really don't need to investigate," Basil stated, "If Ozpin said there wasn't much to go on then it must not be too important, besides I'm sure the police can handle it."

"That may be fine for you," Porphyrios answered, steel in his voice, "but unlike you I care enough to keep my team safe."

"Hey all I'm saying is that you should take a break every now and again," Basil replied defensively, "you certainly deserve it with all the effort you're putting in."

"I'll take a break when my research is finished," Porphyrios grunted, "Now stop butting into my business."

Porphyrios stormed off in front of them towards the dorm, followed by Aurelia after a few seconds. Basil felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Celestia smiling at him.

"Don't worry," she reassured as she smiled, "I'm sure it's just stress from everything that's going on."

Basil sighed, but then smiled back, "Yea you're probably right, Thanks Celeste."

Celestia's grin widened, happy she was able to cheer Basil up.

They walked together down the hall and back to the dorm. On the way, Basil couldn't help but worry about Porphyrios and how the investigation was affecting him.

* * *

Wai rushed forward and stabbed at the floating figure amongst the trees. The figure jumped as Wai's blade impaled itself into the body behind it. Namra's blindfolded face looked up at Wai.

"Why Wai…Why?"

Wai jolted out of bed, covered in a cold sweat. He looked around for the figure but realized he was in his dorm room at Beacon. Wai took in deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. His heart was thumping painfully in his chest as his mind's eye continued to play back the horrible image of him impaling his friend. Wai put his head in his hands as he continued to take deep breaths to calm himself. His whole body shook and sweat continued to trickle down across his skin. Unable to calm himself, Wai got out of bed and walked out of the room in just his tank top and shorts. It was late, so nobody was walking through the halls at this time. He walked through the hallway and toward the gym. When he got there he placed his scroll to the scanner and the door unlocked.

_Good thing we have twenty-four hour access to this room, _Wai thought thankfully.

Walking into the room, Wai grabbed some hand wraps and wrapped his hands with them. He then proceeded to the nearest punching bag. He gave it a few jabs before going into his normal routine. He wasn't sure how long he had been at the bag for, when he heard the click of the lock and the door to the gym opened. Hearing the sound, he grabbed the bag and turned to see who it was. He saw Namra standing there in her pajamas with her black blindfold wrapped over her eyes as always.

"Hey…" Wai spoke, voice trailing off as he unwrapped his hands.

"Hey," Namra replied.

Wai put the hand wraps back where he found them and sat on one of the benches near the middle of the room. Namra sat down next to him.

"I figured I'd find you here," Namra commented.

"Yea? Why's that?" asked Wai.

"You've mentioned before how punching the bag helps you to destress, so I figured you'd go here when you left the room."

"How'd you know I'm stressed?"

The edges of Namra's mouth curled as she smirked at the question.

"Well you were acting strangely during training and you didn't talk to anybody when we got back to the dorm. I figured something must be up for you to act like that."

The two of them sat there in silence until Namra spoke.

"So, you gonna tell me what's up?"

Wai sighed, knowing she was gonna ask that.

"It's complicated."

"Well it's not like we're going anywhere right now."

"Fair enough," Wai conceded.

He took in a deep breath as he contemplated how much to tell her.

_Well she already knows about my semblance, _Wai thought to himself, _Might as well tell her the rest of it._

Wai turned towards Namra. She sat still, listening intently to what he was about to say.

"I've been having… nightmares about my past," Wai confessed, "They started at the beginning of the year and have occurred on and off until I revealed the secret about my semblance to you guys."

Namra nodded, remembering the conversation they had all had that day.

"The stopped after that and I thought they were gone forever now that I was taking steps to control my semblance…"

Wai trailed off for a bit as he collected his thoughts, unsure if he should continue.

"But?" Namra inquired, encouraging him to confide in her.

"But it seems that they're coming back, "Wai continued, "During training this evening I had the same nightmare while meditating. That's why I didn't hear you call my name."

Wai gave a defeated smile, "And I just had the same nightmare tonight, which is why you and I are here now."

"I see," Namra replied, "You were plagued by events in your past until you resolved to control the problem. But now that you're actually resolving the problem, your nightmare has come back."

"Yes, as I just said," Wai replied, "But I have no idea why."

"Well," Namra thought, "perhaps the nightmare is the manifestation of your fear."

"What?" Wai asked, disbelievingly.

"I mean," Namra continued timidly, "because you're finally trying to achieve what you couldn't before. You're afraid that your past will repeat itself, which is why you're having nightmares from your past."

Namra moved closer and put her hand on Wai's shoulder.

"You have to learn that while your past may never leave you, it can't control who you are. It happened in the past, you have to let it go."

"I can't let it go," Wai argued, standing up from the bench, "What happened back then was my fault, I can't just forget about it."

"We all make mistakes Wai," Namra reasoned with him, "Sometimes things happen that are out of our control."

Namra stood up and walked towards one of the windows.

"I had something happen to me too," Namra continued, "I used to have a really good friend back home, before Beacon. He and I used to walk home from school every day and talk about our futures as hunters."

A tear began to roll down Namra's cheek as she reminisced about the past. She wiped it away before Wai could see it, for now she had to be the strong one.

"But turns out he wasn't such a good friend. Something bad happened and it changed him. He began participating in shady activity and tried to get me to join. And when I refused, he got angry, accused me of betraying our friendship. I never saw him again."

Namra walked back over to Wai and once again put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"But I realized that sometimes people change. Sometimes things just happen and you can't control them. The things that have happened to you in your past are not always your fault."

Namra smiled at Wai.

"You can't blame yourself for everything."

"But that's just it," Wai retorted, shaking off Namra's hand from his shoulder, "This event from my past, it is my fault Namra."

Wai turned his back towards Namra, not wanting to look at her as he revealed his final secret.

"I killed my friend."


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Notes: Hey, was going to post this earlier but unfortunately finals started. Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter!**

What It Takes

Chapter 17: Old Ties

Silence fell in the room. Namra stood there, trying to process what her friend had just said.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"My friend Lonan from Sanctum…" Wai answered in a whisper, "I killed him…"

Once again silence filled the room with this statement. Namra stood up, instinctively wanting to get away from him, but stopped herself.

"What happened?" she inquired.

"Back at Sanctum, I had a small group of friends. Lonan was a first year student, a year below me. He had really dark hair, the same color as his eyes. He always looked up to me as some sort of role model, I don't know why; I was always more of a trouble maker back then. Kinda still am, as you've seen."

Wai smiled as he remembered back to his old days at Sanctum.

"My friends and I would always eat lunch by the lakeside. We all loved the scenic views from across the lake. The sounds of birds chirping, the smell of pine trees; I can still feel the sun on my back as we'd eat."

His face became somber as he continued his story.

"And one day, on our way to the lake for lunch, we spotted a stranger on campus. They wore a black cloak that obscured all of their features. We didn't recognize them from the faculty, so we assumed it was a visitor of some sort. We didn't think anything of it at the time; we just continued to the lake and ate on the bank. About ten minutes in, the stranger came back out and started running towards the lake. We heard someone shouting 'Thief! Thief!' from inside the school, so we decided to stop the person in the cloak."

Wai swallowed hard and he took in a shuddering breath, his eyes watering slightly.

"We had just come back from combat class, thankfully, so we had our weapons on hand. We fought against the cloaked figure, but he was strong. Not even four of us could beat him. I wouldn't give up though, I fought him one on one, trying to stop him at all cost. But he could handle me easily. I became frustrated that I was unable to stop him, even though I knew that all I had to do was delay him until the teachers came. Frustration built up in me until eventually I activated my semblance."

Tears started to roll down Wai's cheeks as he began to wrap up the story in a choked voice.

"I don't remember what happened in between, but the next thing I know, I'm standing in front of Lonan with my blade plunged through his chest."

Wai's fell to his knees as he began to sob uncontrollably. Tears streamed down his face as he remembered the look of horror on everyone's face. He remembered the screams from people as they saw the boy's bloodied body. And he remembered the words his friends spoke with his last breath.

"Don't… Forget…"

Wai continued to sob on his knees as Namra approached Wai. She stood in front of him and knelt down. She touched Wai's shoulder causing him to look up at her.

"I'm sorry," she said in a soothing voice, "I know it means nothing for me to say that, but I felt I should say it anyway. Just know that I'm here for you, and Sylvia, and Re, all of us are here for you. We're a team, and we will stand by you no matter what."

Namra then wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. Wai returned it, continuing to cry into Namra's shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, in a quiet, comforting silence, aside from Wai's shaky breaths. When they finally broke apart, Wai could have sworn he saw Namra wipe away a tear, as he wiped away his own.

"I was detained by the police shortly afterward. My parents thankfully were able to pay bail, but they wouldn't even talk to me after the incident. The next day, I was told by the headmaster what had transpired, that after the person escaped I was completely out of control and Lonan, as well as other faculty, tried to calm me down. After that, I was kicked out of Sanctum and my friends refused to speak to me anymore. Not that I blame them; I'd do the same thing."

Wai sighed, "After that, I trained for two years in Vale under my Uncle's guidance. I still wanted to be a huntsman, so I applied to Beacon. I wanted to get a new start away from everybody who knew me. I knew I still didn't have my semblance under control, but I figured more training would help me control that. Until then, I'd have to keep it under wraps, which didn't work out obviously."

He sighed, "And that's how I'm here I guess. Not how I wanted to get here though. However, it seems that most people still think I shouldn't be here."

"Nonsense," Namra stated, trying to reassure him, "People don't think that."

"I've heard the rumors, Namra," Wai replied, "Trust me, when they're about yourself, you tend to hear them more often."

Wai stood up, quickly followed by Namra.

"Besides," Wai remarked, "it doesn't matter what they think, all that matters is what I do about it."

His face fell and he hung his head slightly.

"Although now I'm not sure I can even pull this off."

"What are you talking about? Of course you can," Namra stated confidently.

Wai's smile returned for a second, "Glad to see you have so much confidence in me. Wish I could say the same."

"What about all the things you said to our team before?" Namra asked, "How you were going to learn to control your semblance to protect everyone?"

"Yea," Wai responded, "but what if something like back at Sanctum happens again? I couldn't bear to lose another friend."

"Nothing like that will happen again," Namra reassured him, "We're at Beacon, the place where the greatest huntsmen and huntresses are trained."

She grabbed his shoulder again.

"Trust me, with aura training you won't be able to hurt anyone by accident again."

"But-"

"But nothing," Namra said forcefully, "Wai, it's in the past. While it is a tragic event that happened to you, it is in the past. No matter what you do, or what you think, or however many what-if scenarios you come up with, it won't change what happened."

Namra smiled at him, "But what you _can_ change, is how it affects you. Instead of dwelling over what happened, use that as your drive to be better, so that you can prevent things like that from happening again. And while that memory may still haunt you, at least you can say used that memory to make yourself stronger."

Wai took in what she said.

_Use my memory of the incident as my drive,_ Wai thought, _I always thought that's what I was doing. But all I really did was just let the memory become my living nightmare. It's time I stopped dwelling on the past, not by forgetting it, but by remembering it and learning from it._

Wai looked at Namra.

"You're right," Wai admitted, "I've been stupid to dwell on this for so long."

He smiled at his friend, "Thank you for helping me realize it."

Namra smiled back, "Anything for my friends. Now come on, let's get back to bed shall we? We have classes tomorrow."

"Yea. And I'm sure I have more aura training from you to look forward to."

Namra's smile broadened, "Of course. As I said before, anything for my friends."

* * *

The man woke up lying in his bed. He was a balding man with grey hair on the side of his head and a grey mustache. He wore faded grey pajamas and had piercing blue eyes. He stared up at the dark ceiling for a few seconds before he turned to his bedside clock. The clock read 3:27 AM. The man frowned as his eyelids drooped.

_It's the middle of the night, _the man thought to himself, _why am I waking up now?_

He turned over in his bed and fell back asleep.

The man woke again with a start, sweat glistening on his skin. He wiped his brow and looked at the clock. It read 4:03 AM.

The man sighed, _Guess the nightmares haven't left yet, _he thought grimly.

He sat up and glanced around. The room was plain looking with a simple dresser across from the bed and a mirror standing next to it. There were a couple windows on his left, whose curtains were currently drawn. To his left was a dark brown nightstand which had his alarm clock on it, along with a picture of his wife and two kids.

He sighed as he looked at the picture, _If only I could see you now, _he thought to himself solemnly.

Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from somewhere in the house. He turned his head towards the door, listening intently as he clearly heard the sound of shoes against hard wood floor, as if someone was walking towards the door. The man tiptoed silently to his dresser, opened the top drawer and reached inside. Beneath the clothes in the drawer he pulled out a black pistol. He quietly closed the drawer as he heard the footsteps getting closer to his bedroom door. He pointed the pistol at the door, his muscular physique tightening as he prepared for the person to enter the room.

The door opened. In the door way stood a rather tall man in a black bowler hat. He wore a matching suit and tie as well as black khakis and shoes. The man's cold grey eyes stared at the gun in the other man's hands.

The man in the bowler hat smirked at the sight.

"And what, may I ask, are you going to do with that?" The man in the hat asked chidingly.

The man with the gun did not answer, but continued to point the gun at him with a much firmer grip.

"Come now," The man with the hat said taking a step forward.

"Take one more step and I will blow your head off," he said through gritted teeth.

The grey-eyed man chuckled softly to himself, "Flint, do you honestly think that a mere pistol can stop me? You know me better than that."

Flint glowered at the grey-eyed man for a few seconds before slowly lowering his pistol.

"What do you want Cole?" Flint asked, his teeth still clenched.

"So you _do_ remember me," Cole remarked, still smirking.

"Answer the damn question," Flint repeated, his hands still gripping the gun.

"Well I guess I owe you that much now don't I?"

"You owe me much more than that," Flint replied, "Or have you forgotten what you've done to me and my family?"

The smirk faded from Cole's face, "Believe me, I did not wish to harm you or your family."

"Then why did you do it?!" Flint nearly shouted, "There was no reason-"

"There was plenty reason!" Cole growled, "This world needs to be cleansed of all those who've wronged me, of all those who don't understand my vision."

"Then why not me too?" inquired Flint, "Why am I still here?"

Cole looked Flint over and sighed, "I'm not without mercy, Flint, as much as you want to believe that I am."

"Mercy?" Flint repeated incredulously, "This is mercy? To leave me here to live with what you've done to me?"

"Do you really think I wanted to do what I did?" Cole questioned, "It brings me more pain than you can imagine."

Cole hung his head slightly, "I made a choice that day. A choice to go down the path I'm on now. And they stood in my way."

Cole lifted his head up and looked at Flint, "But I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to ask you to do something for me."

Flint stared at him with angry curiosity, "And just why on Remnant would I do something for you?"

"Because it involves sparing you from more pain."

"Is that a threat?" Flint inquired, "I never thought you'd stoop so low as to threaten a man you took everything from."

"Not everything," Cole spoke firmly, "Or have you forgotten what you still have?"

Flint froze for a moment as he realized what Cole meant.

"I met your daughter last semester," Cole continued, "She seems to be fitting well at Beacon. Has a lot of friends there. Although, I think she may be with the wrong crowd."

Flint raised the gun once more, "I swear if you have harmed her in any way-"

"I haven't done anything to her!" Cole interrupted angrily, "However, she has become a bit of a problem."

Flint lowered his weapon, concern swimming in his eyes, "What do you mean?"

"A few months ago, I began phase one, but unfortunately some things didn't go according to plan. I won't bore you with all the boring details, but some Beacon students got involved and I saw your daughter amongst them."

Cole walked over to the picture of Flint's family and picked it up.

"She's interfering with my plan, Flint. My informant tells me that she is trying to find more information about my little group."

He placed the picture down.

"I don't want to harm her in any way, I really don't, but if she interferes with me again…"

Cole turned to Flint.

"I won't have a choice."

"If you don't want to harm her, then end this whole charade. Stop your plan now before more people get hurt."

"People have to get hurt for the plan to work!" Cole responded his voice raised, "And I can't stop the plan, I have to finish what I started."

Cole sighed again as he calmed down, "Many people are going to suffer and die as this continues, and many people already have. But I don't want your daughter to be one of those people."

Cole turned and walked toward the door. He stopped with his hand on the handle.

"Go talk to her. Convince her to not research this any further. Don't make her one of the casualties."

Cole then turned the handle and opened the door, but before he left he looked back at Flint to say one last thing:

"She looks so much like her mother," he said, "Even fights just like her."

And with that, Cole walked out and closed the door. Flint heard the familiar whoosh of Cole's semblance, knowing that he had left the house.

_No point in calling the cops now,_ Flint realized, _He's long gone._

Flint put the pistol back in his drawer and walked back over to the bed. He lay down in his bed, the covers over him as he thought about what Cole said.

_If he's right, which he most likely is, then I have to plan a trip to Beacon,_ Flint reasoned, _she won't be happy, but this is more important than anything else right now._

Flint turned over and looked at the door, _I can't lose her. I can't lose either of them._

He looked at the picture of his family again; _they are all I have left._

And with that, Flint closed his eyes as he fell into a troubling sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author Notes: Hey sorry this one took so long to upload,I had to work on it more than I thought. Enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 18: Perfection

Aurelia was sitting on a bench in the locker room. She laced up her black and gold combat boots as she stood up. She wore her usual black combat skirt with its crisscrossing gold swirl design as well as her gold chain necklace, black studs and cuff on her right ear. Her boots clomped against the tiled floor of the locker room as she walked toward the entrance to the combat arena, her pigtail bobbing as she walked.

_Time to see what these other schools are made of,_ she thought, as she stepped into the arena to face her opponent.

In front of her was one of the boys from Atlas she had met a few days ago, Jett. He wore a gray athletic jacket and gray athletic pants as well as white sneakers and a black undershirt. Strapped to his forearms were steel bracers, and on his shins were steel greaves. His brown eyes stared at her intimidatingly, his long black hair framing his face as he tried to take in what kind of fighter she was. She drew her battle axe and held it in both of her hands as she took her stance. Jett merely blinked at this, and activated his weapon. The metal on his limbs extended out to his hands and his feet, forming gauntlets around his hands and boots around his feet. Jett also took his stance while he waited for Glynda to start the fight.

Glynda nodded at both combatants.

"Begin."

Jett ran forward with great speed towards Aurelia. She swung her axe in a wide arc, preparing to hit Jett out of the air. From his gauntlets, Jett released a powerful kinetic pulse, which sent him backwards, far enough for Aurelia's axe to completely miss its target. He then launched another pulse from his boots, launching himself forward to punch Aurelia. Swiftly she blocked the blow with the hilt of her axe, but she was now at a disadvantage. In an attempt to move him away, she pushed her weapon outward. It did the trick, as Jett was thrown backward, but he quickly used his pulses to move closer. Expecting this, Aurelia swung her axe to her right, colliding into the boy's side. Jett was sent careening towards the wall by the force of the blow, but fired more pulses from his gauntlets and boots to slow his movement. He smirked at her.

"Glad to see you're good at keeping up," He chatted idly, "Let's see how long that lasts."

He charged at her again, this time using his pulses to speed him up. On top of her now, Jett threw his fist right at her face. Aurelia ducked under the punch and hit him in the chest with the end of her weapon's handle. Stunned by the blow, Jett was unable to block Aurelia's next swing, which sent him flying towards another wall. Firing off more pulses, Jett lessened his speed, stopping him right in front of the wall. Aurelia switched her axe to rocket launcher form and fired a rocket at Jett. He ran towards the rocket, ducking underneath it as he moved towards his opponent. The rocket exploded right behind him, but he was unfazed as he approached Aurelia. He ducked under another swing from her axe and punched her right in the gut, using the pulses from his gauntlet to increase the force of the blow. Aurelia staggered backwards as Jett moved to attack again. She was unable to dodge, as Jett delivered a swift kick to her side. Aurelia was sent to the ground as Jett charged, leaping forward to deliver yet another blow. Aurelia spun around and swung her axe to hit him out of the air. Seeing the attack, Jett miraculously fired off enough pulses to stop himself in midair to avoid the axe and then land safely back on the ground. Taking advantage of her temporary advantage, Aurelia retaliated with an overhead swing towards Jett. He barely had enough time to react, and was only able to catch the blade in his hands. Aurelia smirked as she began to overpower her opponent, forcing him onto one knee. Jett looked up and smiled at her.

"Impressive," Jett commented through gritted teeth, "but don't think you've won yet."

With that, electricity began to form around Jett's hands as he sent an electric shock through Aurelia's weapon. She yelped and dropped her blade at the sudden shock as Jett stepped forward and launched his fist right into Aurelia's face, after firing another pulse. Aurelia tumbled backwards from the impact, but quickly got back up. However, Jett was instantly on top of her again, delivering a kick toward her gut. Aurelia tried to block it but was not fast enough, and she was sent flying back for a second time. Once again she got back up, and once again he was in front of her, but this time Aurelia was ready. She dodged the first punch with relative ease, as Jett threw another punch. Using her elbow, she deflected the blow and let loose a kick to his stomach using the flat of her foot. Stunned by the blow, he was unable to react as Aurelia spun and kicked him in the side of the head with her heal. Jett hit the ground hard and stumbled for a bit as he tried to recover.

Using this time, Aurelia ran over and grabbed her weapon from the ground, turning to face the boy. Jett was standing and looked at her. He smirked again as he charged. Aurelia readied herself as he jumped into the air. He came down foot first, and Aurelia swung her axe at him, attempting to knock him out of the air again. This time, using his pulses, Jett redirected himself and delivered a kick at the axe, deflecting it away from him as he landed right in front of her. Unable to defend herself, He jabbed her left shoulder with an electrified fist, sending a jolt through her arm and causing her to drop her weapon. He then quickly delivered a kick to her shin, sliding her foot back and causing her to fall to one knee, unbalanced. Firing off one last pulse from his gauntlet, Jett delivered a left hook straight to Aurelia's face, toppling her backwards and to the ground face first. On the screen overlooking the arena, her aura meter decreased to red.

"This match is over," Glynda declared and Aurelia slammed a fist onto the ground upon hearing those words.

She got up slowly and saw Jett standing in front of her. He held out his hand to her.

"That was a good fight," he declared smiling.

Aurelia frowned and begrudgingly shook his hand. As they walked back to their separate locker rooms, only one thought entered Aurelia's mind

_It should have been better._

* * *

"Hey Daisy!"

Daisy turned to see Re running down the window-lit hallway towards her. She smiled at him, her blonde hair glistening in the sunlight from the windows.

"Hey Re!" she said joyously, "It's good to see you again today."

Re stopped in front of her and grinned, "Yea, it's good to see you too!"

They began to walk down the hall together as they chatted.

"So, Jett was certainly impressive during that fight," Re commented.

"Yes he was," Daisy replied, "he trains every day to make sure he's in top condition."

"I remember you talking about that before," Re recalled, "but I didn't think he was _that_ strong. Aurelia's one of the top students in our class."

"She did fight well; it's been a while since I've seen him that excited about a match."

Re frowned slightly, "Does he not normally get excited?"

"Not usually," Daisy explained, "There are very few times I've seen him get excited to fight someone, and every time I have he compliments them at the end."

"I bet I could give him a run for his money," Re spoke arrogantly as he put his hands behind his head.

Daisy chuckled, "Well I hope that's not why you hang out with me so much, cause I won't be giving you any tips on how to beat him."

"I would never!" Re said dramatically, his hand on his heart, "I mean, if you offered though I wouldn't refuse… free information you know?"

Daisy laughed.

"But seriously, I hang out with you because you're fun to be around."

"Are you sure it's not just because I'm a pretty face?"

"W-well," Re stuttered, taken aback by the statement and blushing slightly.

Daisy giggled, "I'm just joking, I'm glad you find me fun to be around."

Re smiled, trying to regain his composure.

"Well, I'm glad that you're glad," he replied.

Daisy looked at him slyly, "Well, I'm glad that you're glad that I'm glad," she retorted.

"Well I'm glad that you're glad that I'm…"

He trailed off frowning as he tried to reform his sentence.

"You know what, I'm just glad," he determined, a triumphant smile on his face.

Daisy giggled again, "Can't find a rebuttal?"

"Yea," Re said rubbing his head, "Hurt my brain just thinking about it."

"Kinda like the time you drank that slushy too fast?"

"Hey hey, those are too good to enjoy slowly."

Both of them laughed as they continued to walk.

Soon they reached the branching hallway that marked the end of their time between classes.

"I'll see ya later Re!" Daisy called as she turned left.

"See ya," Re said, a bit of sadness in his voice as he turned the other direction.

He took two steps toward his class when he thought:

_Ah screw it._

He turned and called out, "Hey Daisy!"

She turned around as Re approached her again, "Yes?"

Re froze slightly, his nervousness now getting the better of him as he scratched the back of his head, "Uh…well…you see…"

Daisy cocked her head slightly and smiled, "What is it Re?"

"W-Well…you see…" Re continued, stutteringly.

_Just ask her you fool!_

"I-I wanted to know if you wanted to go see a movie tonight?" Re asked timidly, still rubbing the back of his head, "I figured it might be fun and a nice change of pace from the usual Thursday night."

Daisy grinned wider at Re, "Sure," she answered, "sounds like that could be fun!"

"Really?" Re replied in disbelief.

"Well," She said smiling slyly "if you're so unsure…"

Re composed himself, "N-no," he stammered "I just wasn't sure if you wanted to."

Daisy continued to smile, "Well now you know," she replied, "Does 6 o'clock work for you?"

Re smiled, "Yea it does! I'll meet you by the gates!"

"Alright, I'll see ya then!"

"Yea, see ya then!"

They both turned and walked in opposite directions towards their next classes. Re's heart soared as he reveled in his triumph.

_This is gonna be great!_ Re thought excitedly, _now I just have to make it through my classes._

* * *

Aurelia's axe clashed with Celestia's katana. They had just finished class and had decided to do some sparring together in further preparation for the tournament. Celestia pushed back Aurelia and attempted to slice at her stomach.

_No you don't, _thought Aurelia as she deftly blocked the slice with the hilt of her weapon.

It was actually Aurelia who proposed the idea of more training, especially after the display of strength from the other school. She wanted to improve. She needed to improve.

Aurelia flicked her opponent's blade away with her hilt and swung diagonally at her. Celestia spun with the deflection and used the momentum to block the strike from Aurelia's axe. Frustrated with her lack of progress in the match, she charged forward using her body to try and knock Celestia off balance. Celestia saw this and dodged to Aurelia's exposed right side. She then hit Aurelia in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword. She fell to the ground hard and didn't move for a few seconds.

"Aurelia?" Celestia called in worry, "You alright?"

She stirred on the ground as a voice in her head said, _Again._

Aurelia got up and turned toward Celestia. She readied her stance. Celestia looked concerned, but still got in her combat stance as well.

Aurelia spun her axe around and swung it straight down toward Celestia's head. Celestia blocked the attack with ease, realizing that Aurelia was taking on a more aggressive strategy. Aurelia then proceeded to swing towards Celestia's right side, which was again blocked. Aurelia kept up her assault of swings, growing more frustrated as Celestia blocked each one. Eventually, her offensive assault ended as Celestia took advantage of a gap in Aurelia's defenses. She thrusted her hilt into Aurelia's stomach and then threw her to the ground. Winded, Aurelia attempted to stand back up, but stumbled slightly.

Celestia frowned with unease at her friend's condition, "I think that's enough for today," she said, pushing her pink bangs out of her eyes.

But Aurelia stood up straight and readied her stance. _Again! _the voice in her head ordered.

Celestia scratched her dog ears in confusion, "Aurelia, you should take a break, you look really-"

Aurelia charged at her, swinging her axe at Celestia. She barely blocked the blow, as Aurelia came in with another attack, one that hit her straight in the side. The impact made her stumble to the right as she prepare for the next attack. Aurelia's stream of attacks was unrelenting as Celestia tried to block each attack while attempting to get Aurelia to stop.

"Aurelia that's enough," she reasoned, "you shouldn't push yourself."

Her words meant nothing as Aurelia continued to attack until, Celestia knocked her to the ground again. She looked down at Aurelia who lay on the floor of the sparring room.

"You need to rest," Celestia said soothingly, "remember there's always tomorrow."

Aurelia stood up, _Again!_ the voice shouted, and Aurelia charged.

"Aurelia!" Celestia shouted as she blocked the attack, "enough already."

Celestia pushed her away, almost toppling her in the process. She regained her balance and charged again.

"Stop!" Celestia commanded and she raised her hand in front of her.

Aurelia stopped in her tracks as an unseen force slammed her into the ground. She lay there unable to move, and finally snapped back to her senses.

Celestia put her hand back down, "You good?" she asked.

Aurelia said nothing as she slowly sat up, putting her weapon down on the ground. She sat on the floor, breathing heavily as she tried to recover from the hits that she took from the spar.

Celestia sighed, realizing what this was about. She sheathed her weapon and sat down next to her friend. They sat there in silence.

"So…" Celestia began, "Match really got to you… didn't it?"

It wasn't a question, it was a fact.

Aurelia nodded.

"Look, everyone loses sometimes. I know you want to be perfect both mentally and physically, and I know it's not your fault that you're like this. But you have to push past it. You have to learn to take a break."

A tear slid down Aurelia's cheek, "Even after all these years, you still don't really understand."

She turned to Celestia.

"You think I don't want to take a break? You think I want to spend all my time training and studying until I'm exhausted? It's who I am Celeste; I can't just push past it."

She clenched her fists, shaking in anger.

"And I hate it!" she yelled, "I hate that I can't spar without giving everything I've got, that I can't learn something just because it's fun."

She closed her eyes, the tears still coming.

"It's the stupidest thing, but I can't do anything about it. Do you realize how frustrating that is?!"

She slammed her fist onto the floor with that last word and silence fell between the two.

"I can't escape it either. Even outside of learning, everything has to be in its place, everything must be symmetrical, and everything must be _perfectly_ set up."

At this point, Aurelia stood up, her back towards Celestia, fists still clenched.

"I know that I need to take a break, and I know you're just trying to make sure I'm okay. But please, understand that badgering me is only gonna make me more aware of my problem."

Celestia also stood and put her hand on Aurelia's shoulder.

"I get what you're saying Aurelia," Celestia began, "But I can't just sit by while you suffer through this."

Aurelia turned to protest, but Celestia continued.

"So, instead of badgering you about what you should be doing, I want you to come to me if it ever becomes too much. If you ever need some positive reinforcement, I'll be there for you. I may not fully understand what you're going through, but I want be able to support you in any way I can."

Celestia smiled at her warmly. Aurelia touched her own shoulder, looked at the ground, and let out a shuddering breath. Finally she looked up at Celestia and returned the smile.

"Thanks Celeste," She said still smiling, "I'm glad you're here for me."

"No problem," Celestia replied, "Now let's get back to the dorm and turn in for the night."

The two of them then grabbed their equipment and walked out of the training area.

* * *

Re and Daisy walked out of the movie theater and into the night. As they headed back to the public airships, they discussed the movie they just saw.

"But the ending didn't make a lot of sense," Daisy pointed out.

"Sure it did," Re remarked smiling, "it was hinted at earlier in the movie that he had powers."

"Where?" Daisy asked, "I didn't see that."

"It was when he fought the old guy," Re replied, "He released a bit of his power during it, which is why he was allowed to leave the academy."

"I guess that makes sense," she replied, "still it was funny when he nearly tripped down the mountain."

"Haha yea," Re laughed, "I could barely contain my laughter."

They both chuckled as they remembered the scene, then fell into an amused silence as they nearly reached the airship.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," Daisy said, "we should do this again sometime."

"Yea totally," Re replied smiling even wider, "I'll have to see what my schedule is but we can work something out."

"Definitely!"

They both walked onto the airship and sat down in silence as they waited for take off.

"Re?"

"Yea?"

"I really appreciate you spending time with me this past week."

Re shrugged, "It's no problem. I can't think of anything else I'd rather do."

Daisy smiled and put her head on Re's shoulder. Re tensed slightly, unsure of what to do as Daisy continued.

"You don't understand, aside from my teammates, I don't know too many people back in Atlas. Most of them are too focused on their training to bother with relationships, and the others are just not compatible."

Daisy snuggled a bit closer as Re relaxed his body.

"You are the first person who genuinely wanted to get to know me outside of my teammates, and you really made me feel welcome at Beacon. It means a lot to me, and I wish I could do more right now to emphasize that, but all I can say is…well…thank you."

Re leaned his head next to Daisy's as he placed his hand over her hand.

"You're welcome," he said turning to look at her with a smile on his face, "and believe me, spending time with you is enough thanks for me."

Daisy smiled back as she looked back at Re.

When the airship arrived at Beacon, it was about 8:30PM. They stood up and walked towards the academy. They reached the courtyard when they had to part ways.

"I should probably get going," Re stated, regretfully, "I've got a quiz tomorrow and Sylvia would kill me if I didn't study for it tonight."

Daisy smiled, "I understand. Have a good night!"

She then quickly gave him a peck on the cheek as she turned and walked back to her dorm.

Re stood there stunned for a few seconds, processing what just happened. He then smiled, and the smile began to widen as he turned and practically skipped back to the dorm. His mind raced and whirred with so many emotions and thoughts that he could barely keep track of them. He couldn't wait to share his excitement with everyone else on the team.

Re put his scroll into the door to his dorm, unlocking it, and walked in.

The room was dark and there was barely any sign that anyone was there except for one girl huddled up on her bad, shaking.

His face fell when he realized it was Sylvia who was shaking. He immediately went to her side.

"Sylvia what's wrong?" Re asked worryingly, "What happened?"

Sylvia looked up at Re, seeing her fear-stricken face made Re instantly hug her.

"It's okay Sylvia," Re consoled her, "It's gonna be fine."

"No it's not," she whispered, her voice trembling.

He released her and looked at her with concern.

"It's him," she said her voice still trembling, "Father is coming to Beacon."


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Notes: That volume 3 finale was absolutely incredible...I have no words...I mean aside from the ones I just said. Anyway, here's Chapter 19 of What it Takes! Enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 19: Reunion

Re stared at her in shock.

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"He messaged me saying that he wants to talk," she said shakily, "He's heading towards Beacon tomorrow and wants me to stop by downtown so we can talk."

"Well, what did you say?"

Sylvia looked at him, "Nothing," she stated plainly, "And I'm not going to answer him at all."

Re nodded at her sister, "Probably for the best," he said knowingly, "I can't believe he has the audacity to even message you."

"But, what if he wants to apologize?" Sylvia wondered still shaking, "What if he wants to try to make it up to me?"

Re put a hand on her shoulder.

"Trust me," Re stated plainly, "He would have said so if that's what he wanted. Besides, nothing he does now could ever make up for what he did."

"But-"

"Sylvia."

She turned and looked at Re.

"Do you want to see him?" asked Re, "Do you want to talk to him?"

Sylvia thought for a long time.

_If he does want to try to make up, then he deserves at least a chance right?_

She then remembered the history of her father. How loving he had been to her. How she always slept in his lap when she was little. But then she remembered her mother dying, and how that had changed everything.

She steeled herself and her body ceased its nervous shakes, replaced instead by anger.

"No," she said defiantly, "I don't want to see him."

Re nodded and smiled at her.

"Then tell him that," he said, "Message him back and say you refuse to meet him. He doesn't deserve it."

Sylvia nodded as well.

"Okay," she said, still slightly nervous from the message, "I'll do that."

She opened up her scroll, pulled up the message, and sent her response.

"Where are Wai and Namra?" Re asked, finally noticing their absence.

"They're finishing part of Wai's special training right now," she answered, "Should be back in about an hour."

"Alright, best finish up some work and then hit the hay."

Sylvia looked at him quizzically.

"You? Doing work?"

"Hey I promised my sister didn't I?"

Sylvia smiled, "That you did," she answered, "Then I better keep up my end of the bargain."

She sat back in her bed and pulled out a book from her shelf and began reading it, easing into the pillow.

However, despite her attempts to relax, she couldn't quite shake the feeling of nervousness and fear from that message.

_Just stop thinking about it, _Sylvia scolded herself, _everything is gonna be fine._

* * *

_Everything is not fine._

Sylvia had woken up the next day. Her head throbbed painfully as she tried to get ready for the day. She was making her way down for an early breakfast, when she realized she forgot her notebook for her next class. She ran back to her dorm, grabbed it and a pencil and headed back to the dining hall. She grabbed some eggs and toast for her meal and proceeded to spill her glass of orange juice all over the counter. Embarrassed and angry at herself, she cleaned up the mess, refilled her cup and sat down at one of the tables.

_At least my teammates weren't awake to see that,_ Sylvia thought as she ate her breakfast.

When she was finished, she cleared her plate and headed to class. She sat down, half-asleep, when:

"Alright class," Professor Caerul began, "Put away your things; it's time for our weekly quiz."

Sylvia froze. She had completely forgotten about the quiz today.

_Damn, _Sylvia chided herself; _I didn't study for it last night. I was too preoccupied with that stupid email._

The papers were handed out and the quiz began. Sylvia stared at the page. As she tried to read the first question, the words seemed to jumble into one big mess. Her headache came back, painfully, and she clutched her head as she continued her attempts at reading the questions.

_Why do we have a quiz every week? _Sylvia wondered angrily as she struggled to answer the first question.

_Well, it is an advanced course that I decided to take, _she reminded herself, _but today is not the best day for me to be taking a quiz._

She finished it to the best of her ability and then attempted to pay attention and take notes, while fighting back the continuingly growing pain in her head.

When the bell rang, Sylvia walked back to her dorm, thankful she had a nice break in between classes. She got back to the dorm, her headache pounding painfully at the front of her skull.

_Maybe I should take a nap,_ she thought wistfully, _might help the headache._

She lay down on her bed, closed her eyes and tried to sleep for a bit.

* * *

Porphyrios sat down at the dining table. He began eating his lunch as the rest of his team joined him one by one.

"All I'm saying is your semblance can be overcome if someone is strong enough," Basil commented to Celestia, continuing the conversation they had had after class.

"And all I'm saying is that, regardless of whether they are strong enough, my semblance puts my opponents at an extreme disadvantage," retorted Celestia smiling.

"Perhaps," Basil conceded, "but my semblance allows me to dodge incoming blows easily, making it much harder for me to be hit."

"What do you think Porph?" asked Celestia.

"Are you really still arguing over whose semblance is better?" Porphyrios inquired, an eyebrow raised.

"Well we haven't resolved it yet," Basil responded, "Your opinion will be the tie breaker."

"I don't have an opinion," Porphyrios replied, "because each semblance has its strengths and weaknesses."

Porphyrios took a bite of his food.

"Besides, it's stupid to compare two people on the same team."

Basil turned to Aurelia, "Well then, you're the deciding vote it seems."

Aurelia didn't answer. She was staring off into space, drumming her fingers on the table.

"You alright?"

"Hmmm?"

Aurelia snapped out of her trance and looked at Basil.

"You seem out of it," Basil pointed out, "Something on your mind?"

"No I'm fine," Aurelia responded, as she poked at her food.

Basil was going to continue when Re, Namra, and Wai all sat down at the same table.

"What's up guys?" Re asked joyfully.

"Other than the fact that you are loudly interrupting our meal?" Porphyrios scolded.

"Don't mind him," Celestia commented, "He's just in a bad mood."

"Seems to happen a lot," Wai replied.

"I'm not in a bad mood," Porphyrios stated defensively, "I just prefer peace and quiet."

"Right," Basil said sarcastically, "Cause Celestia and I were very quiet when discussing our semblances."

Porphyrios didn't respond, but instead grumbled as he continued to eat his lunch.

"So how've you guys been?" Basil inquired.

"Pretty good," Re responded, "Gonna ask Daisy to the dance today."

"Nice," Basil said, "I wish you the best of luck."

"Thanks!" Re exclaimed, grinning, "I wish you good luck with your endeavors too!"

Basil blushed slightly at the remark, but Celestia was interested in something else.

"Where's Sylvia?"

"We found her in the dorm room sleeping," Wai answered, "Guess she decided to take a nap after her first class."

"You didn't wake her for the rest of her classes?"

"Well…" Re began, "She had a rough night last night."

"Besides, with all the time she spends studying and training, we figured she could use a nice rest," Namra explained.

"That's fair," Basil reasoned, "It's always important to rest when you need to."

"Good advice."

The students looked up from their meals to see Asita and Jett from Team Jade walking toward their table.

"What do you guys want?" Aurelia growled.

Everyone glanced at Aurelia, surprised by her hostility.

"Easy pretty lady," Asita smirked at her, "We only wanted see how you guys were."

"We've seen you guys around a bit and figured we ought to get to know you better," Jett explained, "Mind if we join you?"

"Sorry," Aurelia stood up, hostility still in her voice, "but we have to get to class."

Aurelia then walked out of the dining hall.

"I'm sorry for our teammate's outburst," Basil apologized, "although she is right, we do have class in a few minutes. We'll talk later."

"Of course," Jett nodded, "No worries."

And with that the rest of Team Peacock left the dining hall. Wai looked up at the clock.

"Actually we have class soon too, sorry about that."

"It's fine," Asita replied with a smile, "I'm sure we'll have more time to talk."

As the three of them left, Re was pulled aside by Jett.

"I need to talk to you for a second," Jett stated.

"Alright," Re replied, "What about?"

"I know you've been hanging out with Daisy a lot lately, and she told me that you guys went out last night to the movies," Jett began as he eyed Re, "So I just figured it would be fair to tell you: we care about her very much, and we would hate to see her get hurt. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Re's smile faded and he nodded seriously, "I understand you completely. And trust me when I say I would never dream of trying to hurt her in any way."

Jett smiled, "Good, I'm glad you understand."

And with that, Re followed his friends to class.

* * *

Sylvia stirred in her bed. She opened her eyes slightly and saw the rest of her team in the room.

"So I asked Daisy to the dance this weekend," Re said quietly, "and she said yes!"

"Dude that's awesome," Wai remarked, "Glad it worked out for you."

Sylvia sat up, making everyone look at her. Re smiled.

"Hey sleepyhead," Re teased, "Did you have a good nap?"

"I did," Sylvia stated, "but why are you all here?"

"Classes are over for the day," stated Namra.

"What?" Sylvia asked in shock, her eyes widening, "That can't be! That means I missed the rest of my classes!"

"Don't worry Sylvia," Re said calmly, "We took notes for you so you wouldn't miss out. We figured you could use the rest."

Sylvia smiled slightly, "Thanks Re, I appreciate it."

Her smile then turned into a frown, "but I really should've set an alarm, that way I wouldn't have missed class."

Wai dismissed her with a wave of his hand, "Don't worry about it. You were really tired, which isn't surprising."

"What do you mean?" inquired Sylvia.

"You were tossing and turning quite a bit last night," Namra pointed out, "Plus you've been staying up late doing work a lot."

"And how do you know that?"

"It's kind of hard not to know it when you rely more on your hearing than your eyesight."

"I thought you use your semblance to see?" inquired Wai.

"Yea, but I didn't have my semblance my entire life Wai."

"Well I guess I'll get started on copying those notes now," Sylvia determined.

Re put a hand on her should.

"How's about you just try to relax the rest of the day," Re advised, "With the dance this weekend and our first mission on Monday, you're gonna need the rest."

Someone knocked at the door.

Re looked up.

"You guys expecting someone?"

"Maybe it's Team Jade again," Wai considered as he got up and opened the door.

Sylvia's heart sank as she saw who was in the doorway. Standing there was a muscular balding man with a grey mustache that matched the little hair he had. He wore a white collared shirt with a gold tie, grey khakis and brown shoes. His piercing blue eyes met Sylvia's as he spoke in a serious tone:

"Hello Sylvia, Re, it's been awhile."

* * *

Porphyrios stared at the computer screen. With the new found info he had gathered about Roano Brooten, he had learned that the Faunus was a die-hard loyalist to the White Fang, and had been placed in prison for carrying out mass murder against the Schnee Dust Company. But something didn't add up.

_No sane person could ever carry out such deeds unless they truly believed in their cause,_ Porphyrios pondered, stroking his black beard.

He continued to scrutinize the article in front of him about the breakout of Roano from prison.

_So why did you abandon them for the man in the bowler hat?_

"Watcha researching?"

Porphyrios immediately closed out of the window and spun around. Jett was standing there in his Atlas school uniform, hands in his pockets.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about," Porphyrios replied coldly.

"Oh, of course not," Jett commented with a slight smile, "But considering how quickly you closed out of the window, it seems to be something important. And the fact that you are quick to defend yourself, means that you must be trying to keep it secret."

"What's your point?" Porphyrios growled.

"Just seems odd to me," Jett reasoned, "that you aren't working on this research with your teammates."

Porphyrios said nothing, as Jett came closer to him.

"Keeping secrets is one thing," Jett noted, "but keeping things from your team is another. You should be working with them."

"They made their choice when I asked them earlier," Porphyrios responded, "I don't wish to burden them if they don't want to carry the load."

"Either way, they have a right to know what you know."

Porphyrios looked at him quizzically.

"Why do you care?" He inquired, "You don't even know what this is about."

"I know enough to know that you and your team aren't as close as you could be. You barely talked to them at lunch, figured I should give you advice."

Jett folded his arms across his chest, "Being a good team is one thing, but having perfect synergy with your teammates is unrivaled. And the only way to get there is by getting closer to them."

Jett nodded to the computer, "And keeping your knowledge secret isn't helping that."

"You didn't answer the question," Porphyrios pointed out, also crossing his arms, "Why do you care?"

"Because I've seen people in this situation before," Jett continued, "And it has always ended badly. I'm just trying to look out for my friends."

Porphyrios chuckled slightly, "Is that what we are now? 'Friends?' Well if that's the case let me let you in on a little secret 'friend'"

He unfolded his arms and walked closer to Jett, getting right up in his face.

"Being a leader isn't about getting closer to your teammates," Porphyrios growled, "It's about keeping their bodies fit and their skills honed, so that they stay alive. Keeping them alive is top priority and getting closer to them only gets in the way."

Porphyrios then began to walk away from Jett, but not before he said one last thing.

"Besides," He spoke softly but seriously, "If there's anything I've learned in life, it's that being close to people only brings one thing: Pain."

And with that, Porphyrios walked out of the library.

* * *

"Get out."

Sylvia gritted her teeth as she said those words, standing firm against her father. Re stood to the side, also tense at his sudden appearance. Namra and Wai were both silently confused as to why the siblings seemed so angry.

"Is this your father?" Namra finally broke the silence.

"He is," Sylvia stated before her father could answer, "And as I mentioned before, father, I don't want to talk to you."

"You don't even understand what this is about," he said plainly.

"I don't care," Sylvia replied, "Now if you would turn around and leave that would be much appreciated."

Sylvia's father sighed and his eyes grew somber, "Please, Sylvia, this is very important for you to know. Don't let our past get in the way of this."

"Easy for you to say!" Sylvia yelled, "You weren't on the receiving end of what you put me through!"

He flinched at her words, "I know I've made a lot of mistakes with you but please-"

"Mistakes?!" Sylvia's voice grew even louder as tears started to well up in her eyes, "After mom died you acted like I didn't exist! And when you did acknowledge me, you tried to force me onto career paths that I didn't want to follow! You gave all of your attention to Re and only Re!"

Tears began to stream down her face as she continued to yell, "And now after all that, you come here and tell me they were just mistakes! This isn't something as simple as spilling the milk, or sending the wrong email to someone! You ruined my life!"

Silence fell in the room. Sylvia's cheeks became wet as she continued to silently cry.

"So forgive me if I don't want to talk," Sylvia continued, "But I believe I have every reason not to."

"Sylvia…" her father began, unsure of what to say, "I'm not looking for your forgiveness. I just want to keep you safe now. And what I have to say is vital to keeping you safe."

"I can take care of myself," Sylvia argued, the tears had stopped now, "I don't need you to keep me safe."

"You don't understand."

"I don't need to."

"Damnit Sylvia!" her father raised his voice, "For once in your life listen to me! You owe me that much!"

"Owe you?!"

It was Re who had yelled this time. He now stood right in front of his father, fuming with anger.

"She doesn't owe you a damn thing! After what you did?! After what she had to suffer through?! You think she owes you?!"

"I protected her!" their father retorted, "Everything I did was to make sure she was safe!"

Re grabbed his father by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"You protected her?!" Re yelled, "You abused her! You ignored her! You treated her like she was a piece of trash you had found on the side of the road! Sure you never physically hurt her, but years of neglect and verbal abuse were enough to damage her deeply."

His father tried to get out of Re's grasp, but he merely tightened his grip.

"All you did was play favorites! You praised me for everything I did yet dismissed everything she did! She pushed herself to excel in school just to impress you, to gain some sort of attention from you. And you just shut her out, like it all meant nothing, because all you cared about was how she reminded you of our mother."

"Re that's enough," Sylvia pleaded as she began to choke up.

"NO!" Re shouted looking back at Sylvia, "I'm tired of how he treats you, like you're just a bad memory that he wants to forget!"

Re turned back to his father.

"You want to know what the final straw was? You want to know the moment that she finally gave up? The night that she told you she wanted to go to Beacon and become a huntress, that was your last chance to make up for what you did, you could have started to patch things up with her by just saying yes. Years of pain could have begun to heal for you and her," Re continued, his voice becoming calmer, "And what did you do? You shot down her idea completely. You crushed her hopes and her dreams. I would know, because that night I saw her broken and beaten. I saw her devoid of all her personality."

Re released his grip on his father, a single tear sliding down his cheek.

"I saw the pills in her hand that night. I saw the defeated look on her face as she almost..."

Re trailed off as Sylvia started to tear up again.

"I had…to convince her… to not do it…" Re stated in a shaky voice, his face looking at the ground, "I, a sixteen year old boy, had to convince…my only sister…that there was more to life than what she experienced…"

He looked up at their father, "She nearly died that night," he said, angry hot tears spilling from his eyes, "If I hadn't been there, she _would_ have died. So now tell me where the _hell_ were you?! If you were so adamant about protecting Sylvia, where the hell were _you_ that night?!"

Silence fell again as tears fell from both Sylvia and Re. Then, a single tear fell from their father's eyes.

"I…had no idea…"

His words were hollow as he tried to process what he had just heard.

"I didn't realize that…I am so sorry…I know that means nothing to you, but I am genuinely sorry I pushed you to that extreme."

He took in a shuddering breath, "You're right, you owe me nothing what-so-ever. And as much as you must hate and despise me for what I have put you through, I must insist that I talk to you. I'll be near Beacon Academy for a while, please, come talk to me when you are ready. It's a matter of your safety, for both you and Re."

He then began to close the door but stopped abruptly and looked back at Sylvia. He smiled at her.

"You look so much like your mother," he said softly, "She would be very proud of you."

And with that he closed the door, leaving them all in a calm silence.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Notes: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long, I've had a lot of things going on lately and wasn't able to edit this chapter until recently. Anyway I'm back and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

What It Takes

Chapter 20: What One Does for Family

The team sat in an uncomfortable silence. Sylvia and Re's father showing up out of the blue was certainly unexpected. And the fact that they were on such bad terms with him came as an even bigger shock to Namra and Wai. Sylvia sat down, her tears drying on her face as Re wiped his away.

"I'm sorry…" Re spoke quietly.

He turned towards Wai and Namra.

"I'm sorry you guys had to witness that," he repeated.

"Don't worry about it," Wai responded, "We all have our family issues."

"This seems like it's more than a family issue," Namra said in an undertone.

"Why did he come?"

The group turned to Sylvia as she finally spoke.

"I specifically told him not to come," she thought aloud, "I told him I didn't want to see him, but he came anyway. Why?"

"This wouldn't be the first time he ignored you sis," reasoned Re, "Who cares what he had to say."

Sylvia looked up at Re from her bed, "But Re, he said it was about something important, something that would keep me safe."

"It doesn't matter," Re repeated, "He was probably lying to get you to give up on your dream."

"That couldn't have been it…"

"Sylvia please he-"

"Re!" Sylvia interjected forcefully.

Re stopped talked, waiting to hear what Sylvia had to say.

"His manner was much different when talking to me this time," Sylvia explained, "He didn't get angry until I refused outright. And after you told him off, when you told him about…"

Sylvia's mind trailed off as the memories flooded back to her. She shook them off and continued.

"…about what happened that night, he actually showed emotion towards me."

"So it's true then…"

Everyone turned to look at Namra, who spoke in a barely audible voice.

"You really almost killed yourself…"

Silence filled the room.

Sylvia merely nodded and whispered her affirmation:

"Yes…"

Again silence fell in the darkening room as the sun began to set outside.

"Sylvia…" Re spoke, his voice shaking, "I get it. If he's concerned this badly about you then it _might_ be something that goes beyond _his_ wants. But I'm telling you, he's going to use this later and try to manipulate you to come back."

"You don't know that Re…"

"I do know that!" Re said, his voice rising, "He treated you like crap for years, and then you broke free. And now you want to involve yourself with him again! He's just going to suck you in again under his thumb! I'm not gonna watch as you throw away everything you've accomplished!"

Sylvia stood suddenly.

"I need some air."

She began to walk toward the door.

"Sylvia-"

"I need some air!" she snapped at him.

Re froze in place as he watched his sister walk out of the dorm, closing the door behind her.

* * *

Sylvia walked down the halls of one of the classroom buildings as she took deep breaths, trying to clear her head.

_What was he trying to tell me? _Thought Sylvia as she walked, _why would he come all the way up here to talk to me? He knows that I won't forgive him, yet he still insists on talking with me. It must be important. But what if Re is right and he's just trying to manipulate me?_

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the man walking towards her and bumped right into him.

"Oof…" Her breath left her as she hit the ground, papers scattering everywhere.

"Are you alright?"

Sylvia looked up and saw Professor Caerul looking down at her with concern, gathering the papers he had just dropped.

"Yea, I'm fine," Sylvia stated as she stood up, "Sorry, I should've been paying attention to where I was going."

"It's alright," the professor said, gathering the last of his papers and shuffling them all neatly in his hands.

Professor Caerul smiled at her. He was a tall, lean man with fair skin and blue eyes. He had short, brown hair tied back in a wolf tail, and a slightly pointed chin. He was formally dressed with khakis and black dress shoes. He wore a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled all the way up..

"Any particular reason you're walking about theses halls on a Friday evening?"

"No reason," Sylvia replied dodging the question, "why are you out and about Professor?"

"I was just about to return to my office and finish grading the quizzes for today," replied Professor Caerul.

He frowned slightly, "Which reminds me. I was going to ask you this tomorrow but right now seems appropriate."

Sylvia creased her brow in confusion. "What about?" she asked.

Caerul looked around the hallway.

"Why don't we head to my office?" he suggested, "then we can talk."

"Alright," Sylvia agreed.

They walked down the hall a bit, took a left and entered his office.

The room was very organized, with a small bookshelf in the back, filled with textbooks as well as other various novels and novellas. In the center of the room was Caerul's desk, which was uncluttered except for a few schematics for experiments that he was conducting. The desk had a few chairs around it, one behind the desk and two in front of it. There was a table on the right, which contained a teapot on top of a small electric heater. The teapot was currently steaming slightly, clearly ready to be poured.

Caerul put his papers into one of the drawers and then gestured to the teapot:

"Would you like some tea?"

"I would, thank you."

Caerul grabbed two cups from one of the other drawers. He then poured tea for both himself and Sylvia. He gave one of the cups to Sylvia as he sat down in the chair behind his desk. Sylvia took the cup and sat down across from him. The two of them sat and sipped their tea in silence for a bit, merely enjoying the warm liquid. Caerul relaxed into his chair, sighing contently.

"Professor," Sylvia asked nervously, "what did you want to talk about?"

Caerul looked at her. His brow furrowed in concern as he put his cup down.

"I wanted to talk to you about your quiz grade today."

Sylvia hung her head.

_Right, _she thought, _that one didn't go well at all._

"I was going over it and you missed a majority of the questions. Which of course means you failed."

Silence filled the room as Sylvia sipped her tea trying to calm her nerves.

"It was a surprise for me," Caerul commented, "One of my top students this semester just completely failed a quiz. It was concerning."

He put down his cup, folded his hands in his lap and looked intently at Sylvia.

"I would like to know if there was anything you didn't understand about the material," he said, "Anything that I could perhaps clarify for you?"

"No," Sylvia responded almost immediately, "It's not that I don't understand the material."

Caerul looked at her quizzically at first, but then came to a realization.

"Bad day then?"

"You could say that…" Sylvia said her voice trailing off as she stared down into her tea.

"Well," he began as he sipped at his tea, "if you want to talk about it I may be able to help somehow."

Sylvia looked up at her professor, surprised.

"Why are you so concerned about me?"

"I'm concerned about all of my students," Professor Caerul explained, "I want to make sure they all do well in my classes. And when I find a student struggling or not doing as well as they had been, I like to try to help in any way I can. So, Sylvia, if you would like to talk about it, I'm here to listen."

Sylvia looked down at her tea again as she contemplated her options.

_Do I really want to tell him about my personal life? _Sylvia thought to herself, _there's not much he can do about it- I don't think. Although having an outside opinion on this could be beneficial. It may help me decide what to do._

Sylvia sipped her tea, _I don't have to tell him everything, _she decided, _only enough for him to provide an opinion on it._

She put down her cup of tea and sighed.

"It's my father…"

Caerul leaned in, listening intently.

"We have a pretty bad relationship," Sylvia continued, "He did some things in the past that I simply couldn't stand or handle."

She took a sip of her tea, breathing in its calming warmth as she continued.

"We eventually had a huge argument that severed what little relationship we had left and I hadn't seen him since."

"Let me guess," Caerul interjected, "He contacted you recently."

Sylvia nodded in confirmation.

"He told me that he had something important to tell me, in order to keep me safe," Sylvia explained, "I didn't trust him at first and we got into another argument today. But now that I'm thinking about it, his mannerisms were different, almost sympathetic towards me."

She looked down into her swirling tea again.

"It made me wonder if maybe he was telling the truth," She stated, "Maybe he _is_ trying to keep me safe. My brother doesn't think so, and he has every right to think that, and so do I."

She looked up at her professor.

"I'm not sure what I should do. I don't know whether to believe my father or my brother in this situation. Yes, my father did a lot to make me distrust him. But there was something about him that was different this time."

She took another gulp of her tea and sighed.

"I know you don't know much about me or my father," said Sylvia, "but what do you think?"

The professor took a long drink from his cup as he contemplated the question before him. Eventually, he put down the cup and decided to answer.

"Well," he began, "as you said, you have every reason to distrust his words. If he truly was bad enough in the past to sever your relationship with him, then perhaps he doesn't deserve to talk to you."

Sylvia nodded and looked back down at her tea.

"However," Caerul continued, "it could also be beneficial to learn about what he has to say."

Her head snapped upward, "Even after all he's done? It might be good to see him?"

The professor finished his tea and put down the empty cup.

"Yes," he answered, "I believe that it would be. If I've learned one thing, it's that people will do anything for their family and the ones they love."

"So you think I should see him?"

"I am just giving you my thoughts on the issue," Caerul corrected her, "On one hand you could not talk to your father, thinking him a liar and risking the chance that he may be actually trying to protect you. On the other hand, you could talk to your father on the off chance that he wants to protect you, and risk involving yourself in his affairs. I'm showing you the risks and rewards of your two choices here; you just have to determine which reward is worth the risk."

They fell into a comfortable silence as Sylvia looked into her tea, lost in the many thoughts that now swam in her head. However, now her thoughts seemed more focused, more rational and clearer.

She smiled, happy that she could now think beyond the jumbled mess her head once had been. Now she could finally decide. She put her cup of tea down and stood up, still smiling.

"Thank you professor," She thanked, bowing, "I know what I'm going to do now."

Caerul smiled contently, "You're welcome. I'm glad I could help and I do hope for a much better result for your next quiz."

Sylvia chuckled, "Of course Professor. I'll work extra hard for it."

Sylvia walked out of his office, shutting the door behind her.

She walked down the hall back to the dorm, finally feeling like she could breathe again.

* * *

Basil was sitting on his bed, about to send a message to his brother Cinereus. Ever since the end of last semester, they had kept in close touch. He was about to finish his message detailing what had happened today when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Basil called.

The door opened and in came Namra.

"Hey Namra," Basil greeted, "how are you doing?"

"I'm doing alright," she replied with a slight smile, "Where is everybody else?"

"Well, Aurelia and Celestia went out to get supplies and Porphyrios is doing more of his research in the library, apparently he found a name," Basil answered, "Which reminds me: Is Sylvia doing research on those people with Porphyrios still? Every time I've seen him do it he's alone."

"She gave up on it a while ago," Namra explained, "said she wanted to focus more on her studies rather than a wild goose chase."

"Ah I see," Basil nodded, "probably for the best. It would be great if they found something out, but it's better if the police just deal with it."

"Actually, she's the reason why I'm here," Namra said her face falling into a frown.

Basil looked at her, puzzled, "Something wrong?"

Namra nodded.

Basil moved over a bit on his bed.

"Here, sit down," Basil motioned to her.

Namra moved to the bed and sat down next to him. Basil put down his scroll and looked at Namra.

"So what's up?" he asked curiously.

Namra took a deep breath and explained the situation to him, leaving out the parts about Sylvia nearly ending her life. Basil simply nodded as he listened to everything Namra had to say.

"I see," he said, "Well it sounds like there's a lot going on in their family."

"Yea," she replied quietly, "it was certainly something."

"So," Basil continued, "if this is a family issue for Sylvia and Re, why are you here?"

"The thing is I feel like Sylvia is not going to see her father."

"And?"

"Well that's wrong isn't it?" Namra inquired, "Despite what he's done he's still family. Shouldn't he have a right to see and protect his own daughter?"

Basil thought about it for a few minutes, unsure about how to respond to what Namra said.

"I mean I guess," He eventually answered, "but it seems like her father did some pretty terrible things."

"Even still," Namra continued, "he should still have a shot at redemption."

"I don't know," Basil said honestly, "he might be beyond redeeming. And even if he wasn't, it sounds like Sylvia doesn't want to give him that chance."

"Which is why I want to convince her otherwise."

Basil raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yes, because family will always try to protect their own and I feel like Sylvia has forgotten that," Namra explained.

Basil paused for a moment before answering:

"So you think Sylvia's father really is trying to protect her?"

"Yes."

Quiet filled the room as Basil thought about it for a few seconds.

"You're right," Basil pointed out, "Family will always try to protect each other no matter what. However, it's not your call to make."

"But if I can convince her-"

"Namra," Basil said firmly, "I understand that you are trying to do what you think is best for Sylvia. But this is _her_ family, meaning it is her and Re's business only. How would you feel if someone tried to involve themselves in your affairs?"

Namra opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it. She sighed in defeat.

"You're right," she admitted, "I shouldn't try to convince her to do something that doesn't involve me."

Basil nodded in agreement.

"But," Namra said quickly, "If she decides to ask me for my opinion then I'm going to express what I think."

"That's fine," Basil commented, "That's how it's supposed to work."

Namra smiled at her friend's agreement. She stood up ready to leave.

"Thanks Basil," she said, "I'm glad you were here to listen."

"No problem," Basil replied, "Always happy to help."

Namra walked out of the dorm and shut the door behind her. Basil smiled to himself as he reached for his scroll. Finishing his message, he sent it, a smile still etched on his face.

* * *

Cole sat at his desk, pouring over maps of Vale and the surrounding areas. He ran a hand over his closely cropped black hair as he tried to determine where to strike next. As he analyzed the areas, his scroll rang out. He pressed the button to answer the call.

"Go ahead," he spoke plainly.

"They have a name," a warped voice spoke over the scroll, "The Faunus boy found the name Roano."

"Hmmm…" Cole mused over this new information, "No matter. He wouldn't be able to find us through him anyway."

Cole folded his hands in front of him.

"What about the girl?"

"It appears the girl heeded the warning, she has stopped researching." The voice answered.

"Good," Cole affirmed, "we can move ahead with our next attack. I want you to head towards a small village outside Vale to test our new device. I'm sending you the coordinates."

Cole tapped one of the files on the scroll and hit send. The scroll buzzed slightly as it sent the information.

"I see," the voice spoke, "it might be hard for me to get out that far though."

"Do whatever is necessary," Cole ordered, "This is a vital part of our plan."

"And where will you be?" inquired the voice.

"I'm taking Nuri and Coralia to visit one of our benefactors," Cole answered, "I must check on the dust production. You have your orders, see them through."

Cole hit the end call button. He sighed and slumped slightly in his chair. Once again he looked at the locations on the map. His eyes drifted to a picture on his desk. Carefully he picked it up and smiled wistfully.

"Soon my love," he claimed, "soon I will have what I want. What we deserve."

He placed the picture down and stood up. He grabbed his bowler hat from the desk and put his coat on. In a few quick strides he opened the door and walked out.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Notes: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait again, had to change a few things and it took longer than expected. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

What It Takes

Chapter 21: Night of Song and Silence

Sylvia woke up. It was Sunday, the day of the dance. However, it didn't feel like it for Sylvia after everything that had happened in the past couple of days. She continued to lie in bed, pulling the blanket closer towards her.

_Perhaps if I just lay here, I won't have to do anything,_ she thought wistfully.

After a few minutes of lying under the blankets, she heard the rustling of her other teammates as they began to get up. Soon she heard one of them approach the bed and place a hand on top of her head. She looked up with squinted eyes to see the blurry outline of Re in his white tank-top and grey sweatpants.

"Rise and shine Sis," Re spoke softly, messing up her hair, "time to get up."

He removed his hand and walked over to his closet to get ready. Sylvia sat up, her long silver hair disheveled. She rubbed her eyes, attempting to wake up more. She got out of bed, grabbed her shower supplies and a change of clothes and walked out to the showers.

She came back from the shower wearing her hair in its usual ponytail. She had a light blue t-shirt on with a new pair of blue jeans as well as white and light blue sneakers.

She noticed that only Namra was in the room at the moment, putting her laundry away. She wore a long sleeve, black shirt, along with a pair of old, ratty blue jeans. She also had on her usual black blindfold over her eyes.

"Good morning Sylvia," Namra said without turning toward her.

"Hey Namra," Sylvia replied quickly, "Re and Wai already go to breakfast?"

"Yea," Namra answered, folding her laundry from last night, "They said they had some more training to do for the tournament."

"They could have at least waited for us," Sylvia said, sulking slightly, "Well at least they're working on improving."

Namra nodded in agreement as she finished folding her clothes.

"So," Sylvia began, "what dress did you pick out for the dance tonight?"

Namra turned around.

"What do you mean?"

Sylvia raised her eyebrows at the response.

"What do you mean what do I mean? Haven't you been to a dance before?"

"Honestly, no I haven't," Namra explained, "Wasn't sure if I even wanted to go tonight anyway."

"Why not?" Sylvia asked, "All of our friends are gonna be there. Why wouldn't you want to go?"

"Well, dances aren't really my thing," Namra answered shyly, "I'm not a big fan of crowded places."

"Well I can understand that," Sylvia stated, "But you said you've never been to one before, so you don't know if you won't like it."

Namra thought for a few moments before she replied:

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to experience it. But now I don't have a dress to wear."

"Don't worry about that," Sylvia reassured her with a smile, "We'll go shopping after breakfast."

* * *

Wai threw a punch right at Re's face. Re moved his hands up and blocked the punch before retaliating with his own fist. Wai used his elbow to deflect the incoming blow. He then launched a fist at Re's ribs, landing the blow. Re staggered slightly at the hit before putting up his guard as Wai unleashed another punch at his face. Wai continued throwing punches until Re sidestepped to the left, and hit Wai straight in the gut. Wai hunched down, stopping the rain of blows.

"Good…" Wai said in between breaths, "I think…that's enough…for today…"

"You alright dude?" Re asked concerned.

"Yup," Wai grunted, "just winded is all."

Wai caught his breath before he continued.

"Too bad boxing isn't too useful out in the field," Wai pointed out, "unless you use your fists to fight."

"It could be good for unarmed combat," Re reasoned, "just in case you get disarmed or something."

"That's true," Wai agreed, putting his sneakers back on.

Neither of them had bothered to bring anything aside from their workout clothes, after all they could just jump into the showers right after they got back.

"So," Re started as they walked back to the dorm, "Who are you taking to the dance?"

"What?" Wai blurted out, "That's a fairly personal question Re."

"Oh come on," Re chuckled, dismissing the comment, "I told you who I'm going with, why can't you tell me who you're going with."

Wai turned red.

"W-well," Wai stammered, "I'm not exactly going with anyone."

"But clearly you have someone you would ask," Re concluded slyly, "Who would it be?"

"Well," Wai began, mustering up his courage, "I would have asked… Sylvia…"

Re stopped suddenly, which caught Wai's eye as he stopped too. Silence fell between them.

"I see…" Re trailed off, taking in the new information, "well then…that's certainly new…"

Wai just stood there awkwardly, as he waited for Re to fully process the information.

"Alright."

Wai flinched as Re put his arm around him.

"Well I wish you the best of luck," he said chuckling, "After all, she's quite the handful."

Wai was confused, "You're not mad?"

"Nah," Re said shrugging, "I mean I'm protective of her, obviously, but I'm not gonna control her love life. If you like her, then I say go for it. And if she likes you back, then more power to you."

"Are you sure?"

"Honestly Wai," Re continued, "I'd prefer her to date you over some of the guys in this place. However, I will say that I will not help you win her over, you gotta do that on your own."

"Fair enough," Wai replied, relieved that Re wasn't reprimanding him.

"Although, I will say, don't you dare hurt her," Re stated bluntly, "But I think that's obvious isn't it?"

"Of course," Wai replied, "I promise I won't."

"Good," Re smiled, "I wish you luck."

"Thanks," Wai said, blushing slightly, "I just hope she feels the same way."

* * *

Namra and Sylvia walked down the streets in downtown Vale. It was a crisp day, and was fairly cloudy. Namra felt the cool wind brush through her hair as she walked, hands in the pockets of her jeans.

_Good thing Sylvia decided to bring a sweater, _Namra thought; _maybe I should've brought one too._

"So," Namra began, addressing the slightly shorter girl, "Where are we going?"

Sylvia looked behind her and smiled, "My favorite clothing store, we should be able to find you a suitable dress for tonight."

"You sure they'll have any left?"

"Not many people shop there," Sylvia stated, "It's not like one of those big stores that everybody goes to when shopping for dresses. Don't worry you'll like it."

"Alright," Namra shrugged, "if you're sure."

They continued to walk down until they reached a fairly small store. The store's siding was painted a deep blue, while the walls were an off white color. Displayed in the windows were a variety of different types of jackets and dresses with fairly bright colors.

They entered the shop as a bell rang from the door.

"Sylvia!"

The lady at the register walked over to the pair of them with a smile on her face. She was an older looking woman, with streaks of gray mixed in with her short brown hair. She had a few wrinkles on her skin and wore a simple purple dress that reached slightly below her knees. Her bright green eyes smiled at them as she walked over, her heels clicking slightly on the floor.

"Hi Aunt June," Sylvia responded smiling.

"Good to see you again," Aunt June said still smiling, "Did the dress fit okay?"

"Yes it fits fine, thanks for asking, "Sylvia stated, "I'm actually here to help a friend get her dress."

Sylvia turned to Namra.

"Namra, I'd like you to meet my Aunt June. Aunt June, this is my friend and teammate Namra."

"Good to meet you Namra," Aunt June greeted grinning wider. Namra noticed that she seemed unperturbed at the sight of the blindfold that Namra was wearing.

"So you two are looking for a dress for her then," Aunt June concluded, "Would you two like any help?"

"No thanks," Sylvia replied with a grin, "I think we'll be able to find something."

"Well if you need my help just call," Aunt June said with another smile, and walked back to the register.

"So your Aunt owns a clothing store?" Namra inquired as they walked around the store.

"Yup," Sylvia answered plainly as she reached for a long yellow dress, "As I said, it's not a big or popular store, but it's fairly successful. My Aunt really liked sewing and decided that she wanted to learn how to make clothes. And, as you can see, that turned into this store."

Sylvia put the yellow dress in front of Namra.

"I think this should be in your size," Sylvia remarked, "Why don't you go try it on?"

Namra took the yellow dress and walked into one of the changing rooms. After a few minutes of trying to get the dress on, Namra came out of the changing room wearing the dress.

"How do I look?" Namra asked.

Sylvia turned from the rack of dresses to take a look at Namra. The yellow dress definitely looked good on her; the hem of the dress dragged along the floor a bit, but wouldn't be too much of an issue. However, there was one other detail that could be improved.

"Why don't you take the blind fold off?"

"What?" Namra exclaimed.

"The dress looks nice on you," Sylvia explained, "but it might be better to see your eyes, so I was thinking you could take off the blindfold to see if it would."

Sylvia took a step toward Namra to help remove the blindfold, to which Namra flinched and quickly stepped backward. Her foot caught the long hem of the dress and she began to fall backward. Sylvia grabbed Namra's arms and pulled her back up in front of her, preventing her fall.

"Thanks…" Namra said quietly.

"No problem," Sylvia replied, taking a step back from Namra.

"If you don't mind, I would like to keep the blindfold on," Namra requested.

"Alright," Sylvia spoke, smiling, "Although I think we should get you a shorter dress, that way you won't be as likely to trip."

Namra chuckled slightly, "Yea, might be a good idea."

Sylvia had Namra try on a variety of dresses from strapless to long sleeved, from blue dresses to red dresses, until…

"Perfect!" Sylvia shouted triumphantly.

"You think so?"

"Yes!" Sylvia affirmed with a grin, "You look incredible!"

The two walked to the register and put the dress on the counter. Aunt June rang them up, folded up the dress and put it in a bag. Sylvia took out some money to pay for it.

"No I can cover it," Namra interjected.

"Nonsense," Sylvia retorted shaking her head, "it's my treat, besides I get a family discount."

They walked out of the store with the dress and began to head back to Beacon.

"Thanks again," repeated Namra.

"No problem," Sylvia replied, smiling, "It'll be worth it to see everyone's reaction!"

Namra smiled, "That will be fun."

"Won't have to wait long either," Sylvia remarked, "Just gotta wait till tonight."

"Yea," Namra replied calmly.

_I certainly hope it will be fun_, Namra thought wistfully as they continued to walk down the street.

* * *

Basil stood in front of the mirror and fixed his green bow tie. He was dressed in a simple tuxedo with a dark green vest and a black coat with green trim. He had a white dress shirt underneath all of that, and had black dress pants and black shoes. Once he finally fixed his bow tie, he grabbed his half yin-yang necklace and looked at it. He smiled as he wondered what his family was doing right now. He sighed reflectively and put the chain around his neck and under his shirt.

At that moment, Aurelia came into the room.

"How do I look?" she asked excitedly.

She was wearing a blue, jellyfish-style dress, which was basically a normal dress, but with ruffled strands hanging down from the midline of the dress, to make it look like a jellyfish. Instead of her normal pigtail, Aurelia wore her hair down, her golden-brown curls shaping her face really well.

"You look good," Basil answered with a friendly smile.

"Thanks!" Aurelia replied with a smile, "Celestia should be coming out of the bathroom soon and then we'll head down."

"What about Porph?"

Aurelia rolled her eyes.

"He's still in the library," she replied with slight frustration, "I think he's researching the people we met at the warehouse again."

"Still?" Basil inquired, surprised, "I'll go down and talk to him, he needs a break. I'll meet you at the dance."

"Okay," Aurelia stated as Basil left the room.

Basil closed the door to the dorm and turned and what he saw in front of him took his breath away.

Celestia was standing there in a sleeved, light blue dress that fit her form perfectly. The dress was covered with white sequins and had some glitter woven into the fabric which gave off a shimmer, making the dress look like it was made of ice. The blue, shimmering color amplified the beauty of her steel blue eyes, making it hard to look away. Her dark pink hair was sleek and shiny and gave a slight glow to her face. Her dog ears twitched as she walked toward Basil.

"Well?" she asked shyly.

Basil was too stunned to answer at first, but finally he regained his composure.

"You look…great," He said, blushing slightly, "you look very pretty."

Celestia blushed as well.

"Thanks," she responded, "Are you heading down to the dance now?"

"I'm actually going down to grab Porph, I told Aurelia that you two can meet us down there."

"Oh," she said, a bit disappointed, "well see you down there."

"Yea," Basil stated, rubbing the back of his head and still blushing, "see you."

Basil began to walk towards the library, his face still slightly red as he entered.

"What do you want?" Porphyrios growled, clearly frustrated as he stared at his computer.

"To see how you were doing."

"Yea well, I'm fine, now don't you have a dance to go to?" he chided.

"Don't you? Last time I checked they still allowed grumpy people in," Basil retorted with a smile.

"Why would I want to go to a stupid dance?" Porphyrios questioned, without turning to look at Basil.

"Well, for starters, you've been at this all day," Basil began, "And all of last week, and the week before that."

"Your point?"

"Porphyrios, you're running yourself into the ground," Basil reasoned, "You need to take a break, even if it's just for the night."

"And tell me, what would that break do for me? Allow me to socialize with people? Dance? Meet the doe-eyed girl I always dreamed off?" He inquired sarcastically.

"And what's wrong with that?"

Porphyrios chuckled.

"Nothing," he replied, "Except I have better things to do than to deal with people who I couldn't care less about."

Basil hung his head.

"Well, _we_ care about you," Basil said dejectedly, "I just figured I could give you some advice. Try to get you to relax a bit more."

Porphyrios sighed and turned around. He looked ragged, his jet black hair was unkempt and hung near his eyes. His great black beard was scraggy and untrimmed and his eyes looked sunken, with dark shadows under them. He was still wearing his Beacon uniform from earlier that day, the shirt untucked and the tie loosened.

"You want some advice?" he inquired, "life is short, fleeting; you shouldn't get hung up about other people. Enjoy yourself, live for _your_ enjoyment."

"But," Basil interjected, "aren't some people worth worrying about?"

"Some are," Porphyrios said, looking at the books on the shelves, "and for those few it's worth it."

He turned back to Basil.

"And for you, that someone is waiting for you at the dance," he pointed out, smirking.

Basil blushed profusely.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on," Porphyrios laughed, "It's obvious you like her a lot. So why are you worrying about me? Go out there and give her a dance. I'm sure it will make her night."

Basil looked at Porphyrios with concern, still a bit red in the face.

"Alright," he uttered quietly, "I'll talk to you later then."

"Mhmm," Porphyrios mumbled, returning to his computer.

Basil left the room, but then came back a minute later.

"You know, maybe you should take your own advice once and while. It might make you happy."

And with that Basil smiled and left.

Porphyrios chuckled slightly at the comment, as he continued to stare at the screen. He poured over old news reports and articles, but now he wasn't focused.

He rubbed his eyes as he leaned back in his chair.

_You know,_ he thought to himself, _Maybe Basil is right, maybe I should take a break._

He mulled it over for a bit, looked back at the screen to see the words blurring together.

_Yea, he's right, _Porphyrios realized, _I should take my own advice._

And with that he shut down the computer, picked up his tablet and walked out of the library.

* * *

Re and Daisy walked into the dance hall. Re wore a normal black tuxedo with a dark yellow vest and bowtie, while Daisy wore a bright yellow sundress and both a green colored necklace and bracelet.

"Welcome to the party!" the blonde girl at the entrance exclaimed as they walked in.

"Thanks!" Re said with a smile, "Hope we're not too late for the festivities."

"You're right on time," the blonde declared, "Head on in!"

They walked toward the tables and found most of team Peacock already sitting down at one of them.

"Do you mind if we say hello?" Re asked Daisy.

"Not at all," she replied smiling.

The two walked towards their friends and noticed that Basil was a bit red in the face.

_That's to be expected,_ Re thought to himself as they reached the table.

"Hey guys!" Re greeted his friends.

Basil looked up.

"Hey Re," Basil grinned, "How are you?"

"I'm doing well," he answered, "this bow tie is killing me though."

"Well at least you don't have to walk in heels," Daisy argued.

"That's true," Re conceded, "Oh right! Basil, Aurelia, Celestia, this is Daisy."

"Nice to meet you," Aurelia stated shaking her hand.

"Re talks a lot about you," commented Celestia.

"Really now?" Daisy inquired and turned toward Re with a sly smile, "How much have you told them?"

Re blushed, "Well you know…this and that."

"Usually it's just about how awesome you are," Basil commented.

Re's face became beet red at that comment.

"Well then," Daisy began as she leaned her head against Re's shoulder, "I guess I'll have to try and meet expectations."

"I think you've already met them," Re chuckled nervously.

Daisy giggled.

"So, where are the rest of your teams?" inquired Basil.

"My team's here already," Daisy answered, "they got a separate table knowing I would want to spend a lot of time with Re."

"As for my team," Re stated, "They were waiting for Namra to finish."

"Well it looks like she finished," Aurelia said looking behind Re.

They all turned to see Sylvia, Namra and Wai all walk into the room.

Wai wore a black tux with a blue vest and a blue necktie. He was a bit red in the face while standing next to Sylvia in her outfit. She wore a long, silky, silver dress that seemed to sparkle as she walked along with her silver moon earrings. Instead of her usual ponytail, Sylvia wore her hair down, which reached slightly below her shoulders. Her bangs were combed to the side and dangled in front of her right eye.

However, it was Namra who came as a bit of a surprise. She wasn't wearing anything too extravagant, but the dress itself was interesting. The dress was brown in color and somewhat resembled a cloak with sleeves, and was tied around her with a black belt. Her hair was much tidier and had a certain sheen to it. She still wore her black blindfold, which didn't surprise Re, after all she never took it off. And, unlike most of the girls, she had opted for flatter dress shoes rather than heels.

_She looks good! _Re thought to himself as he watched them all walk over.

"Hey guys!" Sylvia exclaimed, her heels clicking against the ground as she walked towards them, "you ready for some fun?"

"Now you're talking!" Re responded as their team headed out to the dance floor, leaving Aurelia, Celestia and Basil behind.

"Well they're certainly excited," Aurelia commented, fidgeting with her hair.

"Come on let's join them," Celestia proposed, grabbing Aurelia's arm, "you coming Basil?"

"Uh…not right now," Basil stuttered, "I'll join you a bit later."

A flash of disappointment crossed Celestia's face, but she smiled quickly, making Basil miss it.

"Alright, see you later then!"

The two girls went out to the dance floor as Basil let out a shuddering breath.

_Why am I so nervous? _Basil thought to himself, _I'm being trained to fight ferocious monsters, yet I get nervous while around one girl._

He let out another sigh, _Guess that's proof that my fighting skills are better than my social skills. I'll just go get some punch._

* * *

The night went on nicely for a while, as they all danced together. After several songs, the first slow song of the night came on. The group moved off the floor, except for Re and Daisy, whom began to dance together. That is until Re nearly tripped over his own two feet and collided with Daisy. Thankfully, Daisy held her ground and helped him regain his footing as they both laughed it off.

"They're really cute together," Celestia pointed out.

"It's true," Sylvia responded with a smile, "They complement each other well."

Wai held his hand out to Sylvia.

"Would you…uh…like to dance?" Wai asked tentatively, his voice shaking slightly.

Sylvia smiled slightly, "Sure, why not?"

She took his hand and they walked out onto the dance floor.

Namra, Celestia, and Aurelia stood off to the side and just watched as the students danced around the floor together. As they watched everyone, Jett walked up to the three of them. He was wearing a black suit with a dark gray bow tie and vest. Aurelia immediately scowled as he approached.

"Good evening ladies," Jett greeted with a smile, "How are you doing tonight?"

"We're fine," Aurelia stated bluntly, "Now do you need something or are you going to leave us in peace?"

Jett's brow creased as he frowned.

"Well I was going to ask you for a dance, but if you don't want to then I'll just be going."

Aurelia seemed surprised by this.

"Why would you want to dance with me?" She asked.

"Well, I respect your fighting skills," Jett explained, "You showed great prowess against me in the sparring match, so I figured I should treat you to the first slow dance tonight."

"But I lost," Aurelia stated with a scowl, "I don't deserve to be respected for that."

"Do you really think that's what fighting is all about?"

"As a huntress it's my job to succeed," Aurelia commented, still scowling, "And, in order to succeed, I need to be the best, don't I?"

"I mean…yes," Jett replied, "That's one way to look at it. But the experience of the fight is more important than the outcome. You can learn a lot about your opponent and about yourself during a fight, and later you can use that to improve your own fighting skills."

Jett smiled at her.

"So even if you lose, you can still learn a lot from the fight that you can use later on, and that's what it means to grow and improve."

He held out his hand.

"I learned a lot from watching you fight," he declared, "and I'd like to learn more, and help you learn as well. What do you say?"

Aurelia paused a moment as she thought it over.

_Learning from losing? _She thought, _I always thought the only way to improve was to train harder and to win._

Her brow furrowed as she thought about it more.

_Perhaps it's true. Maybe this is what I need to do to improve even more. It's worth a shot._

"Alright," she answered, her scowl fading slightly, "but don't try anything funny."

"Deal."

And with that she took his hand and they walked out to the dance floor.

* * *

Basil was sitting down at a table drinking punch as he watched his friends on the dance floor. He then looked over and saw Jett lead Aurelia over to the dance floor as well, leaving Celestia and Namra by themselves.

_Come on Basil, _he thought to himself, _now's your chance to ask her for a dance._

Yet he remained in his chair, nerves keeping him from standing up.

_Come on! _He chided himself, _you can do this._

"You still haven't asked her yet?"

Basil looked up and saw Porphyrios standing over him. His hair was combed and looked less disheveled than before. He wore a black suit jacket with a white undershirt, purple tie, and navy blue khakis.

"I thought you said this dance was stupid, and that you had better things to do."

"It is, and I do," replied Porphyrios gruffly, "but someone reminded me that I should enjoy life every now and then."

Porphyrios then nodded toward Celestia.

"I thought you said you were going to ask her to dance?"

Basil blushed slightly.

"To be fair I never said that…" Basil trailed off.

"True," Porphyrios responded with a smile, his tail swishing behind him, "but as your leader I must highly advise that you get out of that chair and go ask her."

And with that, Porphyrios pulled Basil out of the chair and began to drag Basil towards Celestia.

"Wait Porph I'm not ready- I don't know what to say to her- I can't-"

Basil continued to ramble, trying to get Porphyrios to stop, until they stood right in front of Celestia and Namra.

"Good evening," Porphyrios greeted with a smirk.

"Hey Porph," greeted Namra with a smile.

"I thought you weren't coming out tonight?" Celestia questioned.

"Change of plans," Porphyrios said dismissively, "Anyway, Basil here would like to ask you something."

With that Porphyrios stepped back for Basil to stand there awkwardly, fidgeting with his hair.

"Well you see…" Basil began still fidgeting, "I wanted to know if you uh…wanted to uh…dance?"

Basil held out his hand shakily as Celestia's dog ears twitched slightly.

"Only if you want to of course," he rambled, "I certainly wouldn't want you to do something that-"

"I'd love to."

Basil stared blankly at Celestia.

"Wait really?"

"Of course," she said, blushing slightly as she took his hand and began to walk to the dance floor.

Basil stumbled after her, still in shock that she had said yes. They began to dance to the slow song, Basil's face red throughout the whole thing. After the song was over, they joined the rest of their friends who were out on the dance floor and started to dance to the next song.

Namra noticed that Porphyrios merely stood by the table watching.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Namra asked without looking at him.

Porphyrios shrugged, "Dances aren't really my thing."

"Same here," Namra replied, "too many people to keep track of."

Porphyrios smirked slightly, "I'm going to get some punch. Care to join me?"

"No thanks," Namra replied, "I think I'm gonna go get some air."

Porphyrios shrugged, "Suit yourself."

Namra walked towards the stairs and then out onto the balcony, walking past a blond boy on the way there. She stood at the railing and sighed deeply.

_Wish I could see how good the view is, _thought Namra sadly, _at least everyone else is enjoying themselves._

* * *

Sylvia watched as Namra left to go upstairs.

I w_onder if something is wrong…_

"You alright?" Wai asked, his hand on her shoulder.

"Yea…" she said, her mind preoccupied, "I'll be right back."

She moved her way through the crowd until she was off the dance floor. She then made her way towards and up the stairs. She walked out to the balcony where she saw Namra at the railing.

"You alright?" she asked nervously.

Namra turned towards Sylvia's voice and gave a quick smile.

"Yea," she replied, "I'm fine."

Sylvia cocked her head to one side and furrowed her brow.

"That's not very convincing," she pointed out as she walked to stand beside Namra at the railing.

"I guess not," Namra resigned, turning back toward the view she could not see, "As I said, dances aren't really my thing, too many people to keep track of."

Sylvia looked at Namra and realized what she meant.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sylvia apologized quickly, "I didn't even realize how that would affect your ability to see."

Namra shrugged with a smile.

"It's fine. The fact that you didn't think about it means you're getting used to it."

"I guess so," Sylvia replied as she gazed out onto the night sky.

"It must be exhausting," Sylvia commented after about a minute of silence, "to use your semblance at all times just so you can see."

Namra shrugged again.

"It's not that bad," she reasoned, "Early aura training classes certainly helped me to fine tune it. Although huge crowds still pose an issue."

"Sorry about that," Sylvia apologized again.

"Don't be," Namra said with a laugh, "I'm glad I tried it."

They stood there for another minute of silence before Sylvia had to ask.

"What's it like?"

"Hmm?"

"To see with your semblance," Sylvia clarified.

"Oh…" Namra thought for a bit.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"No no, it's fine," Namra reassured her, "It's just, nobody has really asked me that. I have to think about it."

Namra thought for a moment more before she started:

"It's like seeing the world in only a few colors. The energy of living things appear as white…blobs, while everything else appears murky and black. The outlines of objects are blurred, but distinguishable, and electronics and electricity appear as an almost grey color."

Namra leaned against the railing.

"That's why it's hard for me to deal with crowds, everyone just kind of blends together as one big white image."

"That makes sense," Sylvia nodded, "I think I would feel the same way about that."

Sylvia turned to look at Namra again.

"So how do you see Grimm? Or do they also look black and murky?"

"Actually, Grimm stand out more than anything else," Namra explained, "Grimm are completely red colored."

"Interesting," Sylvia noted, "that would certainly help you fight them."

Namra nodded and silence fell between them again.

"I want to thank you Namra."

Namra turned toward Sylvia.

"Thank me?" Namra questioned, "For what?"

"For, everything really," Sylvia continued, "Despite our rocky start you continued to try and befriend me."

"As I recall, it was me being a pain and arguing with you more than anything."

"That's what I mean," Sylvia explained, "instead of dismissing me as someone who didn't understand you, you tried to help me to understand. You put in the effort to explain how you felt and in turn helped me be a better friend to you. In the end, despite how it seemed, what you did helped strengthen our relationship, rather than just having it tossed aside."

Sylvia turned toward Namra and put her hand on Namra's shoulder.

"Besides my brother, I've never had a closer friend. And for that I want to thank you."

Namra smiled at her, unable to form words in response to her partner. They turned back to the view of the sky.

"I'm going to see my father tomorrow."

"Really?" asked Namra, somewhat surprised.

"Yea," Sylvia responded, "I think he genuinely wants to help me this time."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Namra, smiling, "Family is important, and sometimes it's easy to forget that."

Sylvia nodded.

"I'm just glad I remembered."

They stood listening to the night noises for a bit. Namra grew more tired, and laid her head on Sylvia's shoulder.

"Can you do me a favor Sylvia?" Namra asked quietly.

"Sure."

"Can you tell me what the sky looks like?"

Sylvia was a bit taken aback by the request, but understood why she had asked. She looked up at the sky.

"The night sky is beautiful. It is dark and empty, yet at the same time bright and filled with life. Stars shine down and twinkle like they're just saying hello. They light up the night sky like several beacons of hope among the dark empty space."

Sylvia felt something wet hit her arm. She looked over as Namra sat up and wiped her cheeks.

"Thanks," she said, her voice slightly cracked.

"No problem," Sylvia replied meekly.

A surge of laughter could be heard coming from the dance.

"Come on," Namra said, trying to smile, "Let's go see what that was." Sylvia and Namra walked out to see a blond boy in a dress dancing with a red haired girl in the middle of the dance floor.

"Well that's not something you see every day," Sylvia stated, "Come on, let's join in."

"But Sylvia I told you," Namra retorted, "I can't see well within a crowd."

"Don't worry," Sylvia smiled, "I'll guide you."

Sylvia grabbed Namra's hand and led her down the stairs and onto the dance floor. Sylvia held on to Namra's hand as they danced together among the crowd. Namra smiled as she moved to the music, happy that she could trust Sylvia to guide her through the crowd.

* * *

Wai sat alone at one of the tables, a glass of punch in his hand. He smiled faintly as he watched his friends on the dance floor, laughing and having a great time. He sipped at his punch as he saw Re make his way over to him.

"Where's Daisy?" Wai asked.

"She's hanging out with her team right now," Re answered, "I came to check in on how you were doing."

"I'm fine," Wai lied taking another sip of punch.

"You sure?" inquired Re, "You're all the way over here rather than on the dance floor with everyone."

Wai shrugged and put his glass down.

"Just a bit tired of dancing is all," Wai stated, not looking at Re.

Re looked long and hard at Wai before smiling.

"Alright, well I expect you out there once you're done recuperating."

He then put a comforting hand on Wai's shoulder before heading back into the crowd.

Wai picked up his punch and took another sip as he glanced sadly at Sylvia dancing among the crowd.

_While you may not have said it in words, _Wai thought to himself, _it is clear to me that you do not feel the same way I do. Even still, I will always try to protect you._

And with that he finished his punch and walked out onto the dance floor.

* * *

After a couple more hours, the festivities began to die down as the dance came to a close. The students began to file out of the hall as several people began to say goodbye to each other. Jett parted ways with Aurelia, giving her a slight bow.

"I hope we can do this more often," he stated smiling.

"We'll see," Aurelia replied, smiling as well.

The rest of Team Peacock was already at their dorm and getting ready for bed. Porphyrios looked from Celestia to Basil and noticed that they were unusually quiet.

"I think I'm gonna shower," Porphyrios stated, realizing what was going on. And with that he grabbed his towel and pajamas and headed out of the dorm.

The door clicked shut and then there was silence for a while as Basil and Celestia merely sat on their beds, not looking at each other.

"So…" Basil began awkwardly, scratching his head, "Tonight was nice."

"Yea," Celestia replied with a smile, "I had a lot of fun dancing with you."

Basil blushed slightly at the compliment.

"I'm glad you did," he replied, "I was surprised that you said yes."

Celestia cocked her head to the side, her faunus ears twitching.

"Why's that?" She asked curiously.

"W-Well…you see…" Basil stuttered nervously, "I had wanted to…ask you to the dance to begin with…but then I got nervous because I didn't know if you would want to go with me."

"Why wouldn't I want to go with you?"

"I don't know, I mean I assumed there were plenty of other guys out there who you would rather go with besides me, and even if I did ask you…well…"

Basil blushed even more as he tried to form what he was about to say.

"I…uh…you see…I'm not quite sure how to say it…"

Celestia smiled knowingly.

"Why don't you try just saying it," Celestia encouraged, "You don't have to get fancy with the words."

"Well…okay…" Basil conceded, and took a deep breath.

_You can do it Basil. Just say it._

"Well…I wasn't sure how you felt about me. I mean I'm still not sure how you feel, but I really like you a lot. You're kind and supportive and you always make sure everyone is doing well."

Basil rubbed his head again.

"So… I wanted to know if you uh…wanted to…"

Celestia got up, walked over to Basil and sat down in front of him. She took his hands which got him to stop talking.

"I feel the same way about you, Basil," she answered smiling sweetly.

"Wait really?" Basil asked incredulously.

Celestia laughed.

"Of course," she said still smiling, "You're brave, you're funny, and you care so much about your friends. I wouldn't want to go to the dance with anyone else."

Basil looked into her eyes. They were like little pools of water, glistening with so much warmth and affection. Her smile radiated comfort and love as he stared at her. He smiled back, trying to match the emotions that she had conveyed to him, hoping that she would see the same thing. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She returned his kiss as they sat there in the complete bliss of sharing a first kiss. Warmth filled Basil up as the kiss continued for what seemed like forever, never before had he experienced such happiness as he experienced right now. The two broke away and giggled softly, happy that they were together.

"It's about time."

The two of them whipped around. In their moment they had not realized that Porphyrios and Aurelia had both returned. Basil and Celestia blushed profusely at the realization.

"You owe me 20 lien I believe," Porphyrios turned to Aurelia with a smile.

"Eh," Aurelia shrugged taking out the money, "it's worth it."

Basil scowled, "You guys bet on whether or not we'd get together?"

"No," Porphyrios explained, pocketing the money, "We bet on how long it would take."

"Porphyrios thought it would happen at the dance," Aurelia elaborated, "I thought it wouldn't happen till the end of the year."

"Thanks for the confidence Aurelia," Celestia retorted.

"Hey I call it like I see it."

"It's getting late," Porphyrios pointed out, "We should get some sleep. We have our first missions tomorrow."

The four of them changed into their pajamas and got into bed. Basil lay down and couldn't help but smile at how the day had turned out. But even his happiness couldn't keep him awake, and he too fell asleep, ready for what the next day would bring.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author Notes: Took a while to make this chapter but here it is! Enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 22: The Truth

Namra ran past building after building as she headed down the street, desperate to get there in time. She continued to run despite the aches in her legs and the sweat on her brow. She had to get there; she had to get there in time. She stopped as she arrived at her destination, but she was too late. The building in front of her was burning, the fire consuming it entirely. She saw a man in front of it, staring at the dancing flames. He turned to her and smirked evilly.

"You're too late," he exclaimed with glee, and he gestured to the building, "your home has been destroyed and your friends are gone."

At that he pointed to the ground and Namra saw, to her horror, the bodies of Re, Sylvia, and Wai, their lifeless eyes staring up at her. Namra collapsed to the ground.

"No…" she said weakly, "This can't be…"

"But it is," the man said, still smiling, "And it's entirely your fault."

At those words, Namra was engulfed in flames. She felt the heat lick at her skin as it burned her entire body, immense pain scorching through her.

Namra screamed and jolted up in bed.

"Namra what's wrong?" Sylvia asked quickly at her side.

Re and Wai joined her, and sat down at the edge of the bed, concern filling their eyes.

Namra was covered in a cold sweat and was breathing heavily. Her entire body was shivering despite the warmth of the room. She took a few gulps of air before she spoke.

"I'm f-fine," she sputtered, "J-just a bad dream."

She clutched the blankets harder as the image of her dead teammates came back into her mind.

"You don't look fine," Sylvia insisted, "maybe we should take you to the infirmary."

"No," Namra said, her voice stronger this time, "I'm fine."

"I think she'll be alright sis," Re reasoned, "after all it was just a bad dream."

Sylvia hesitated, concern still evident on her face.

"Alright," she relented, "but if you feel strange at all, go to the infirmary."

"Of course," Namra responded, "I'll be in the shower."

Namra grabbed her stuff and headed to the bathroom.

"Don't take too long," Re called after her, "Don't want to miss picking our first mission!"

There were a couple of other showers going as she stepped into the middle one. She removed her clothes and her blindfold and turned the water on. She shivered at the cold water, but then relaxed into it as it grew warmer. She allowed the water to run over her as she tried to interpret the dream.

_It's been a while since I've had that nightmare,_ Namra thought to herself, _haven't had that since my last years at Signal Academy. And this time the bodies were different._

She relaxed more into the shower as she recalled the dream again. A building on fire, her teammates dead, a man standing over her, burning fire all around her, it was all too familiar.

_Definitely the same dream, _Namra reflected, her hands shaking

Despite the warmth of the shower, she couldn't help but shiver as a chill ran down her spine.

_No, _Namra reasoned with herself, her heart racing, _no, it was just a dream, there's no way he could find me._

She quickly washed herself and turned off the shower. After drying herself, she grabbed her clothes from right outside the shower and got dressed, putting her blindfold back on as well.

_Besides, I gotta focus on the mission choices today._

Feeling reassured, Namra walked out of the bathroom and back to her dorm. However, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong.

* * *

Sylvia walked down to the auditorium with her team. All of the first year students from each kingdom were gathered around a large platform where Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin stood in front of a mic. They took their places in the crowd as Glynda began to speak:

"Quiet. Quiet please."

The chattering around the room ceased as they all looked up at Professor Goodwitch.

"Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin," She declared.

Ozpin stepped up to the mic and spoke:

"Today we stand together, united. Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale, the four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression."

Ozpin continued on talking about the war and its meaning, while Sylvia drifted off as she ran her plan through one more time.

_All I have to do is find a mission that is later in the day,_ she thought, _then I can go see my father and see what it was that he wanted. Hopefully Re won't be too mad at me._

"As I have said," Ozpin began to wrap up, snapping Sylvia out of her thoughts, "today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsmen and huntresses will work to uphold it."

On each side of the Auditorium, holographic screens appeared, listing several different types of missions to choose from.

"As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman or huntress, on a mission. Some of you will be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

There was a smattering of applause as Ozpin walked off the stage and the students walked over to the screens.

Sylvia turned to her teammates.

"Shall we go find a mission?" she inquired.

"Sounds like a plan," Wai encouraged.

They walked over to one of the holographic screens and Sylvia scanned the missions up and down, trying to find one that left a bit later.

"How about this one?" Re asked, pointing to the top most one, "It's a scouting mission for a possibly corrupt dust company in a city not too far from here. We also don't leave till three giving us time to prepare."

Sylvia rolled her eyes. She knew that by 'prepare' he meant time to 'relax'

_Of course he would want more time to relax before a mission, _She thought to herself, _although, it works in my favor so I guess I can't complain._

"Perfect," she stated, "Sound good guys?"

The other two nodded and Sylvia submitted their team name for the mission. The screen approved them.

"Alright!" Re exclaimed, "Can't wait to start feeling like a real huntsman!"

* * *

Team Peacock stood in front of the job boards.

"So," Basil began, "what mission are we gonna take?"

Porphyrios shrugged.

"Let's get some sort of Grimm clearing mission," Aurelia proposed.

"How about this one?" Celestia asked, "We'd have about an hour to get ready and it's clearing out a huge massing of Grimm in Forever Fall forest."

"Sounds good," Porphyrios acknowledged, "I've been itching to fight some real enemies lately."

Porphyrios walked up to the mission board and entered in their team name. After it was approved, they headed back to their dorm to prepare for their first mission.

* * *

Sylvia and the rest of her team entered their dorm. Re immediately plopped onto his bed, just as Sylvia thought he would.

"Well we have a few hours to kill," Namra pointed out, "why don't we do some last minute training?"

"Sounds good to me," Wai affirmed with a nod.

"I actually have something to take care of in town today," responded Sylvia.

"Meh," Re shrugged, "you guys go on ahead."

Wai and Namra left to go train as Sylvia grabbed her scroll and turned to leave.

"Going to see our father?"

Sylvia turned to Re, who was looking at her with concern.

"Did Namra tell you?" she inquired.

"No," Re replied, getting up, "but I assumed because you normally would be dragging me down to train with them."

Sylvia sighed.

"Yes, I'm going to see him. I can't shake the feeling that he's telling the truth and that he just wants to help."

"Then I'm going with you," Re declared.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Sylvia stated, smiling, "come on, let's go."

The two of them walked out of the dorms and headed to the city.

_I just hope my feeling is right, _Sylvia thought anxiously as they boarded the public airship down to Vale.

* * *

Basil zipped up his black and white hooded vest.

"So what time do we have to be down at the airship?" he asked.

"We have about five minutes," Celestia replied as she straightened out her armored corset and pleated skirt, both dark blue with red trim.

"Right," Basil said as he clipped ammo pouches onto the belt of his jeans.

"We should get down there soon," Aurelia pointed out, lacing up her black combat boots.

Porphyrios finished tying his red face scarf around his neck before he chimed in:

"Correct, we all ready to go?"

"Yep," Aurelia stated, jumping up from her bed, hands in the pockets of her motorcycle jacket, her black and gold plaid skirt swaying as she walked to the door.

"Alright, let's head out then."

They walked from Beacon to the airship landing pads, bags of ammunition and other supplies on their backs. Students were all getting on their own airships, escorted by their respective huntsman or huntress for their mission.

"Well this is where we're supposed to meet our huntress," Porphyrios concluded, "but where-"

"Hey there!"

Everyone turned to see a young woman standing in front of them. She was pretty, with dark green eyes and blonde hair that cascaded to her shoulders. Her outfit consisted of a dark green combat skirt with a white undershirt black leggings and heels. She also had two silver rings on each hand and silver stud earrings.

"Hey guys!" The woman cried, beaming at them all, "You all excited for your first mission?"

Porphyrios grunted, putting his hands in his pockets while the rest of them nodded in affirmation.

"Awesome!" The woman responded excitement evident on her face, "I'm Professor Vert, I teach upper class combat strategy techniques, and I will be your huntress for this mission in Forever Fall!"

She clapped her hands together.

"So, who do I have the honor of leading this year?"

"I'm Basil," Basil stated.

"My name is Celestia, pleasure to meet you."

"Porphyrios."

"And I'm Aurelia."

"Wonderful!" Professor Vert exclaimed, "Well, let's get this show on the road!"

She ran up and entered the airship as the students followed her, bags on their shoulders.

* * *

Sylvia and Re stood in front of the apartment door.

"Well," Re stated, "now or never."

Sylvia sighed and knocked on the door.

"Enter," a tired voice spoke.

Sylva and Re opened the door. The room was unkempt, clothes lay strewn on the floor and empty glasses sat on the counter of a small kitchen. The living room was small with only a coffee table, a sofa and a TV. On the sofa was Sylvia's father, looking at them as they entered. He smiled softly.

"So you came," He stated bluntly.

He was wearing a wrinkled grey tank top, dark blue sweatpants, and a pair of old slippers. His eyes were not cold like Sylvia remembered them, but were filled with a kind of warmth that Sylvia had not seen in years.

"Yea," Sylvia replied slowly, "I did."

The smile widened a bit, but then faded as his face became somber.

"I wish it could be under better circumstances."

Silence fell for a while.

"Are you renting this place?" Re asked.

"Just for a bit," His father answered, "I'm here for some business and then I'll be heading back home."

"It's a mess," Sylvia pointed out, shock in her voice.

"Well I haven't had a chance to tidy it up," he said standing up, "Let me fix that."

He went around and picked up some of the clothes and put away the glasses on the counter. Eventually the place looked halfway presentable. He pulled out a couple of folding chairs from the closet and set them up in front of the couch.

"Have a seat," he offered as he plopped down on the coach.

Re and Sylvia sat down on the folding chairs, anxiously waiting for what their father was going to say. He sat there on the couch for a bit in silence before speaking.

"I know that I haven't always been there for you Sylvia."

"You finally figured that out?" Re inquired hotly.

"Re, let him speak," Sylvia pleaded.

"No," their father interjected, "you both have every right to be mad at me. I never treated either of you the same way, and I think it's time you know why."

He took a deep breath.

"When your mother went to Beacon, she was on a team, as all students are. They were all top of their class and exceled when they became huntsmen and huntresses."

He smiled as he reminisced.

"Of course, your mother met me and we settled down. She stopped going on missions all together once we had the two of you."

His smile faded as he continued.

"Then, something happened."

"She died," Sylvia interrupted, her voice cracked, "we know that already, why are you telling us again?"

"Because there's more to it," he explained, "One of her old teammates, Cole Axenus, called her about something. I don't know what it was, but I know what Cole asked made your mother very angry. She told me it was nothing to worry about."

Their father's eyes became misty as he continued.

"Then," he choked out, "a week later, she received a message on her scroll. She quickly grabbed her huntress gear for the first time in years. I asked her what was wrong, but she told me she would be back soon and that I should stay in the house with the kids. Once she left, I knew I couldn't stay there."

Tears fell down his cheeks as he choked back a sob.

"I wasn't sure where she had gone, but soon I began to hear gunfire and followed the sounds. As soon as I got there I saw your mother kneeling on the ground and Cole standing above her, holding a gun to her head. And I watched as he…as he…"

He put his face in his hand as he sobbed harder. Tears were streaming down Sylvia's cheeks and Re's eyes glistened, his mouth agape at the story.

"So…Cole…he's the reason…" Sylvia managed between sobs.

Her father nodded.

"You want to know the reason why I didn't want you to become a huntress?" he asked, "It was because your mother was one. And it was her clutch on to her duty as a huntress that got her killed. And I couldn't bear to let that happen again."

"You didn't do the same for me," Re realized, "you never deterred me from becoming a huntsman."

"You were different."

"Yea? Was that it?" Re inquired angrily, "Or did you not give a damn about me either?!"

"Of course I cared!" Their father shouted, "I worry for both of you every day! I knew at least one of you would want to become a huntsman or huntress, but I was hoping to keep one of you at home."

Re scowled, but decided it wasn't worth arguing further, for now.

"But why are you telling us now?" Sylvia asked wiping tears from her eyes, "You've kept this information secret for this long, why reveal it now?"

Their father looked at Sylvia.

"Because he visited me recently," He responded, "he wanted me to give you a message."

"What message?"

"I was to tell you to stop researching him and his group."

Silence fell in the room as Sylvia and Re both gaped at him.

"Are you saying," Re spoke slowly, "that the man we fought last semester…"

"He's the one who killed our mom?" Sylvia finished aghast.

Their father nodded as silence once again filled the room.

"I need you to just promise me that you won't go after him. That you won't try to interfere with whatever he is trying to do."

"What_ is _he planning?" Re probed.

Their father looked up at Re.

"Please," their father begged, tears filling his eyes, "don't go after him, don't-"

"What is he planning?" Re interjected, more forcefully.

Their father hesitated, his eyes swimming with sadness.

"I don't know," he resigned, "He said that the world needs to be cleansed of those who wronged him. He wants to destroy everyone who doesn't believe in his vision."

"And what's his vision?" Sylvia pursued.

"I don't know," their father sobbed, "Now please, tell me you won't attempt to find him. I'm begging you; I can't afford to lose either of you."

Re and Sylvia looked at each other and nodded.

"I'm sorry father," Sylvia replied, "I can't promise you that."

Their father was about to protest when Re interrupted him.

"Dad, we just learned that we encountered our mother's killer last semester without even knowing it. You can't expect us to just sit around knowing that information."

Their dad stood up.

"You don't understand!" He shouted angrily, "Cole is dangerous! He is a mad man who shares no remorse about killing anyone who stands in his way!"

"And a man like that needs to be brought to justice!" Sylvia cried firmly, also standing up.

"Yes, but you two won't stand a chance!"

"You don't know that!"

Re stood up from his chair as well.

"We're not just kids anymore Dad," he argued, "We're being trained to be some of the strongest warriors in order to make this world a better place. If we don't try to make a difference now, then what hope do we have of doing it later?"

Their father opened his mouth, but then closed it again and gave a sad smile, a single tear falling down his cheek.

"And there it is," he remarked, the smile still on his face, "Your mother's courage and her overwhelming desire to better the world no matter the task."

He sat back down on his couch.

"Well, it appears that you've made up your minds," he said sadly, "Just promise you'll be careful; Cole is not to be taken lightly."

"Of course Dad," Sylvia responded, smiling slightly.

They then said their goodbyes as Sylvia and Re both left the apartment and headed back to Beacon.

"Do you think he's right?" Sylvia thought aloud, "Do we really not stand a chance?"

Re smiled.

"We won't know until we try," He affirmed, "Until then, we just have to train as much as we can."


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Notes: Hey Guys! Sorry about the really long wait...been busy with graduation, and job searches and car searches and a lot of stuff like that. Anyway I'm back! I should have chapter 24 done fairly soon (and I mean that this time) as well as chapters 25 and 26. Those two will end the "Volume 2" arc of this story and I'll be back after a short break with "Volume 3" arc. Anyway that's the plan right now, Enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 23: Starlight

Cole leaned on the second floor railing, looking over the factory workers as they went about the experiments.

"How long until they are ready?" Cole spoke in a gruff voice.

He turned. The man next to him was older looking with thinning hair and a great white beard. The man was dressed in a white lab coat and black khakis. He adjusted his spectacles over his bright blue eyes.

"The experiments are progressing thoroughly," He spoke in a thick accent, "as we continue our research we should be able to stabilize and control them in a matter of weeks."

Cole glared at the shorter man.

"We don't have weeks; I need them ready sooner than that."

"I can't rush science," the man stared back just as intensely, "the results are too unpredictable unless we take extreme caution. Besides, your informant said that no one at Beacon knows. So what are you worried about?"

"I don't worry," Cole replied darkly, "I merely have a feeling that my informant may have been wrong."

"Oh really?"

The two men turned to see Coralia standing behind them in a silk pink shirt and black skirt.

"Then would you care to explain something to me?" she asked angrily.

Cole turned to the doctor.

"We'll discuss this later," he said coldly as he faced Coralia, "Let's talk in my office."

Cole and Coralia moved away from the rail and walked down the hall. Cole opened the door to his office and walked in. The office was pretty bland, with white walls, a mahogany desk and a black leather chair behind it. Besides a few pieces of paper, the desk was uncluttered. Cole sat down in the chair.

"You clearly have something on your mind."

"I do," Coralia spat, "how do we know we can trust your informant? You just said that the informant could have been wrong, so why would you trust him to go on our next mission?"

Cole sat back in his chair.

"I don't think it's his fault, I think that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he knows. The way he is getting information is unreliable, but it's the only way he can get it."

"Then why didn't we just dispose of him when he came to us?" Coralia inquired, "Why even give him a chance?"

Cole smiled coldly.

"Let's just say I opened his eyes to the truth. After that, I knew I could trust him."

"And what if you are wrong?" Coralia asked angrily, "What if he's lying to you just so he can learn more about you and expose us all?"

Cole laughed.

"He doesn't even know the full plan. Even if he tried to expose us, which there is no way he would, he wouldn't have enough knowledge for us to worry. He doesn't even know about this factory."

Coralia slammed her hands on the desk.

"Even still, he only joined us recently and you're acting as if he's been loyal to us for years. You did the same thing when you recruited Roano. You let him lead his own mission with me even though we didn't know if we could trust him. You can't just blindly trust-"

"Enough!" Cole yelled, standing up.

Coralia fell silent; she had never seen Cole this angry.

"I thought we had settled this after the mission with Roano, but apparently I have to explain myself again. The best way to get someone to trust you is to show them that you trust them. By giving my informant a trivial task that seems important, I can see if they are trustworthy without risking any progress on my part."

Cole paced over to Coralia.

"For my informant, it is also a test of resolve. If he can betray the person closest to him, then he can easily do what I need him to do."

He then walked over to the door and opened it.

"Now if you don't mind, I have more important matters to attend to."

Coralia faced him, bowed her head, and walked out of the room, the door closing behind her.

Cole sighed.

_Hopefully she understands now, _Cole thought to himself, _we need to be a cohesive unit now that we've reached this stage of our plan._

He pulled out his scroll and looked at a few of the charts from the experiments today.

_Interesting, _Cole pondered, _that would explain why he is the only one who has full control. Perhaps he is the key to perfecting the experiment after all._

Cole smiled.

_And once that's finished, no one will be able to stand up to us._

* * *

Porphyrios and his team sat in the airship, waiting to reach their destination. Professor Vert was chatting up a storm with the rest of the team while Porphyrios began loading his weapon, ready for the mission at hand.

"So after that dance you two became a couple?" Professor Vert asked.

Celestia and Basil both blushed slightly.

"Yea," Basil answered, "I still can't believe it happened."

"I still can't believe it took so long," Aurelia chimed in.

"Didn't you bet that it would take a year for us to get together?" Celestia inquired.

"Yea, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't frustrated that you guys were so oblivious to each other."

"How obvious was it that they liked each other?" Professor Vert probed.

"I nearly knocked Basil unconscious during a sparring match because he was admiring Celestia's beauty," Aurelia stated, "and Celestia kept drawing Basil in her notebook."

The two girls laughed as Basil and Celestia became beat red.

"You guys realize we are on a mission here right?" Porphyrios interjected.

"Oh come on," Aurelia replied, "We're just having a bit of fun before we land."

"You should be preparing to land right now instead of making small talk. We're not here to have fun; we're here to do a job."

"Is he always so surly?" The professor asked.

"Pretty much," Aurelia answered as she loaded her rocket launcher, "You get used to it."

The rest of the team began to load weapons at Porphyrios' prompting.

"So what's your story?" Professor Vert addressed Porphyrios.

"Not your concern."

"Well surely there's got to be more to you than the strong silent type."

"No there doesn't."

"Oh come on," Professor Vert continued, "I just want to know more about you."

"How about you be a professional huntress instead?" Porphyrios snapped, "As hard as that may be for you."

The professor looked surprised, but before she could retort the airship shook violently, sending the passengers into the walls.

They all got up and grabbed onto the handles on the ceiling, bracing themselves as the airship shook again.

"What's going on," Professor Vert yelled to the pilot.

"There are several Nevermores attacking the ship!" the pilot yelled back in a panic, "We can't-"

His voice was cut off as feathers imbedded themselves into the ceiling as the aircraft began a nose dive. Professor Vert ran up to the cockpit as quickly as she could. As she pushed the pilot out of the chair to take the controls, Basil could have sworn he saw a black feather sticking out of the pilot's chest.

"I'll fly the ship!" Professor Vert called to the students, "I'm gonna open the doors so you can take care of the Grimm, so prepare yourselves!"

Everyone drew their weapons, as the professor tried to stabilize the ship.

"Everyone ready?!"

"Yes!" the students called back.

"Opening the doors…now!"

It was immediate chaos. At least six or seven Nevermores, with white plates on their back, surrounded the airship, their cries echoing amongst each other. Bullets fired from Basil's pistols while Celestia and Porphyrios followed suit with their submachine gun and rifle respectively. Aurelia fired a rocket at the nearest Grimm, but the impact seemed to merely anger it and it charged its body into the ship, tilting it in the opposite direction. As the students struggled to keep their balance, another Nevermore charged head first into the open door of the ship. The resulting crash caused the Nevermore to get its head stuck in the door and for the ship to plummet to the ground from the momentum.

The students clung onto anything they could for dear life as the vehicle plunged to towards the earth. Porphyrios fired at the Nevermore's head until the creature broke free of the door, but the ship continued to fall.

"I can't pull it back up!" Professor vert yelled.

"Professor!" Celestia called, "Close the doors!"

"Why?!"

"Just do it!"

The doors closed and Celestia let go of her handle and landed on the left side door that now served as the ceiling.

"What are you doing?" demanded Basil.

"Just trust me!"

Celestia spread her arms and closed her eyes. Her dark pink hair began to turn into an aqua blue as the ship became covered in a blue aura. As her face screwed up in concentration, Celestia straightened out the ship and landed it softy down on the ground. Opening her eyes, Celestia collapsed onto her hands and knees, her hair turning back to its normal dark pink. Professor Vert stepped out of the cockpit, exhausted but uninjured.

"Everyone alright?"

Celestia gave her a thumbs up as everyone else confirmed that they were okay. The cries of the Nevermore could be heard coming from outside the ship.

"It's not over yet," Porphyrios determined.

He and Professor Vert pulled the left door open and were greeted by the site of the Nevermores flying towards the ship.

"My turn," Professor Vert declared as she stepped out.

She slipped on a black glove with a mesh pattern on its palm side, onto her left hand. She reached up and grabbed the rounded end of the staff on her back, and stopped walking. The Nevermores cried out as Professor Vert pressed a button on her staff. The rounded end of the staff popped up and tilted itself toward her as the bottom of the staff expanded to form a tripod, turning the whole thing into a standing microphone. As the Grimm charged closer, she raised her left hand and put the microphone up to her lips. She inhaled and then let out a loud yell. The resulting cry caused fire to burst from her gloved hand. The Nevermore were engulfed in flames and cried out in pain. A few of them flew off to recover while the others circled back for another assault. She yelled again and the glove released more fire, disintegrating two of the remaining three. The last one continued to charge, but she sidestepped it and pointed the base of her microphone at the Nevermore. She pulled the trigger on the stand, shooting the Grimm straight in the head.

As the corpse began to fade, Professor Vert began to move back to the students.

"Well," she began as she put her microphone onto her back, "at least the plane landed near where we're supposed to go."

"The airship is completely busted," Porphyrios declared, "controls are completely fried despite Celestia's attempt to save it."

"Is there any way we can get back?" Aurelia inquired.

"Of course," Professor Vert answered, attempting to smile, despite the grave situation, "I still have my scroll to call an airship when we finish our mission."

"Are we really going to continue the mission after this?" Basil questioned, concern in his voice, "Those Nevermores tore through our ship! Who knows what else we could encounter!"

"That's being a hunter," Professor Vert stated, matter-of-factly, "If we were deterred by every bad thing that went wrong, we wouldn't be very well respected now would we?"

Basil was about to protest when Celestia put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll be fine," she said with a smile, "Once we clear the Grimm out we'll get out of here."

Basil sighed.

"Fine," He conceded.

"Alright," Porphyrios concluded, "Let's get going."

* * *

"There you are."

Team Sunrise had just arrived at the airship that was to take them to their mission. To Sylvia's surprise, the huntsman chaperoning her team was none other than:

"Professor Caerul," Sylvia greeted with a smile.

"Good to see you," he replied.

He wore his usual semi-formal shirt, tie and khakis, but now he was sporting a brown trench coat with a satchel over his shoulder and a textbook under his arm.

"You aren't gonna be teaching us Valerian Literature while we are on this trip are you?" Inquired Re concernedly pointing at the book.

Professor Caerul frowned disapprovingly at Re, "No I am not. But I could prepare a lecture once we return, if you are so interested in it."

Re shrugged and put his hands into the pockets of his red hoodie, conceding the point.

"Besides, this is a textbook on Aura and Semblance," The huntsman pointed out, "After all, I teach more than just Valerian Literature."

"You teach the advanced Aura Techniques class at Beacon?" Namra asked.

"Yes I do," He replied, proudly, "I was the one who introduced those classes to the school."

"Really?" Wai queried, "Do you think I could ask you some questions then?"

The professor beamed.

"Of course, but let's talk once we get on the ship, we're running a bit late."

They all gathered onto the airship and took off to their destination.

* * *

The trip there was uneventful. Namra and Wai sat next to the professor and discussed the science of Aura and Semblance while Sylvia slumped against the wall, watching Re pace up and down the aircraft.

"Look I know you're nervous about the mission," Sylvia addressed Re, "but you need to stop pacing like you're waiting for news about a comatose patient."

Re looked at Sylvia, "I'm not nervous about the mission."

He moved and sat down next to Sylvia, looking at her very seriously.

"I'm angry about what Dad said."

Sylvia looked at him quizzically, "You're honestly mad about that?"

"Of course I am," Re retorted, "This entire time he kept us in the dark about what happened to Mom, and to top it all off, he didn't care about either of us."

Sylvia grabbed his shoulder, "This is not the time to be angry; we have to stay focused."

"Easy for you to say," Re commented coldly, "At least he was trying to protect you."

"By restricting my every movement and oppressing me at every turn?" Sylvia argued back, "He gave you the freedom to do anything."

"Yea, because he didn't care if I became a huntsman and got myself killed."

Sylvia withdrew her hand, "I can't believe you're trying to argue that your life was worse than mine."

The anger quickly evaporated from Re's eyes as Professor Caerul came over to them.

"We're here," He stated, "Time to go."

The five of them got off of the ship, and looked around. The city was vast and pretty modern looking with a lot of tall buildings across the skyline and cars driving along the roads. From up on the landing pad they could see a majority of the city, as well as the large wall surrounding it.

"Welcome to Starlight City!" Professor Caerul announced.

"Impressive," Wai stated plainly.

Namra grimaced slightly as she felt the energy of everything within the city. Every person, every light, every car, it was overwhelming. She moved a bit closer to Sylvia, hoping to focus on her energy to guide her through the city.

"What's the wall for?" Inquired Sylvia.

"This city is known for quite a lot of Grimm attacks over the years," The Professor explained as they began to walk, "So they built this wall with anti-air sentries at every corner of it. There is no way in or out, except by airship and special access doors."

"Security is pretty tight here then," Wai observed nonchalantly.

"Yes it is," Professor Caerul continued, "Which is why we have been called in to check out Albin Dustworks in secret. If they are corrupt, like we suspect, then the whole city could be in danger."

"Plus with the Grimm so close," Sylvia realized, "The city could be overtaken, depending on what the company is doing."

"Actually, that's the most peculiar part. The patrols outside the city have reported barely any Grimm activity at all," The professor detailed, clutching his textbook tightly.

"So Grimm activity has diminished around the area?" Wai remarked.

"More like it's stopped completely," Professor Caerul corrected.

"And you think Albin Dustworks is behind it?" Re interjected.

Professor Caerul nodded, "Or at the very least they are involved. We've been monitoring their dust production and a lot of it is going to something labeled Project Indigo, which is listed under an unknown client of their company."

"Might as well build a giant neon sign labeled 'Shady' on the top of their building," Re chuckled.

"Well, we did have to do some digging throughout the city to find that information, but yes it did ring some alarms in our heads."

"So where is this company?" Re questioned as they continued to walk through the city.

"A few blocks further, but first we have to head in here," Professor Caerul answered.

They had stopped in front of a small house along the street, it was painted a dark blue with white trim. It was only a single story and had very few lights on inside.

"Here?" Re asked, skeptically.

"Well yea," The professor replied, "We need a place to make a plan once we learn what's going on. Plus we can't just go in armed to the teeth; we need to put our weapons somewhere."

Professor Caerul knocked on the door three times and waited.

"Enter," A man answered, his voice quiet.

The professor opened the door and the five of them entered.

The inside of the house was plain, with grey walls and a white ceiling. Namra wrapped her cloak tightly around her as the room was colder than a house should be and also much darker. They were standing in the hallway between the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right. Professor Caerul moved to the living room and the students followed. The living room was fairly small had a brown couch and armchair as well as a TV, which was currently showing the news. A man was currently sitting on the couch, watching the TV as if he hadn't heard them come in. The man was wearing a black T-shirt and grey khakis, as if he wasn't aware how cold it was. He was a very muscular man with short, wavy black hair and ice blue eyes.

"Good afternoon Enero," Professor Caerul addressed the man.

Turning off the TV, Enero turned to the group, his eyes seemed to pierce right through them all.

"Good afternoon," He spoke in a tired voice.

"Thank you for letting us use your house for the night."

Enero shrugged, as if the thanks meant nothing to him, which seemed a bit rude to Namra.

"You can put you weapons against the back wall," Enero declared indifferently, pointing at the wall behind him.

The students moved and placed their weapons where indicated.

"We'll be heading out then," Professor Caerul said, smiling, "You can still join us if you want."

"Pass," Enero yawned, "Not enough of a challenge."

"Suit yourself," Professor Caerul declared, and they all left the house.

"Well he was a bit rude," Sylvia remarked.

"He comes and goes," Professor Caerul shrugged, "I don't know him too well, but that's what other hunters have told me."

As they headed towards their destination, the sidewalks became more crowded. Her vision becoming overwhelmed by all of the energy signatures, Namra began to panic and quickly grabbed the nearest person in their group.

"What's wrong?" Sylvia asked turning around to face Namra.

"Can't see," Namra responded quietly.

"Just keep hold of my arm," Sylvia requested calmly, "I'll guide you."

They soon arrived at the Albin Dustworks. The building looked older than the others, with rusted metal visible on the outside and a faded steel sign which was the only way to tell that they were in the right place.

They entered the building and were greeted by the secretary.

"Good afternoon," the woman greeted with a smile, "How can I help you?"

"I have an appointment with Doctor Albin," the professor replied smiling back, "Should be under Bennet Caerul."

The secretary began searching for the name within the database.

"You're all set," she declared with a smile, "He'll be with you shortly."

After about fifteen minutes, two men came down to greet them. The first man was short and had thinning hair and a great white beard. His blue eyes hid behind small spectacles and he wore a white lab coat with black khakis. The other man was much taller with close cropped bronze hair and eyes of the same color. He wore an open white long coat, which revealed his muscular chest, brown cargo pants and boots. He also had a weapon strapped to his back that looked like a tomahawk but was much bigger and had a longer blade. The old man smiled.

"Hello Bennet," the old man greeted the professor in a thick accent, "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Well Doctor Albin," Bennet replied, "I was hoping you could give me and these young students a tour of your facility."

"Unfortunately, touring hours are over for today," Doctor Albin stated, "But it's so rare for a professor at Beacon to be here, so I'll make an exception. Follow me."

The doctor walked towards an elevator, which they all entered. They stopped on several floors of the building, learning about how they mine and purify the dust. Soon they arrived on the fifth floor.

"And here," The doctor declared proudly, "Is where all of our experimental research is performed."

"So I see," Bennet nodded, "Tell me, what are you working on here?"

He pointed toward one of the larger work stations where several scientists were mixing dust compounds together.

"Ah," Doctor Albin said smiling, "One of my greatest ideas if I do say so myself. That is our scientists attempting to find a way to regenerate lost limbs."

He frowned for a minute, "Unfortunately, progress is slow as most the compounds we thought would work are unstable, but I'm optimistic."

His smile returned.

"So these are all the projects you are working on then?" Bennet determined.

"Well, these are the ones that we display to the public," Doctor Albin explained, "We have some other projects under wraps though. You know, so competitors won't be able to get a leg up on us."

"I see," Bennet affirmed, "Tell me, would one of those projects be named Indigo?"

Namra felt the energy in the air shift after Professor Caerul asked that question. She felt the bronze haired man tense up as well, but Doctor Albin remained composed.

"I'm not quite sure," He answered, "I would have to check our databases, but the name is unfamiliar so I highly doubt it."

They stared at each other for a long time, and for a second, Namra thought that the man behind the doctor was going to draw his weapon.

Bennet smiled, "Must have been just a rumor then, or maybe just a different dust company."

"Perhaps," Doctor Albin replied.

The man behind the doctor relaxed as they continued their tour of the fifth floor. They passed by several rooms of dust experiments and fancy equipment for distributing samples to other parts of the facility. They then came to a steel plated door with an electronic lock to the side of it.

"Well, that's the end unfortunately," Doctor Albin concluded, "Past this door is for employees only so, I'm afraid we will have to turn around. It's getting late anyway."

The five of them turned around to head back when Namra suddenly felt it. She whipped back around. There was something behind that door, a faint energy signature, but it was unmistakable. Namra froze, her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach.

_That's-_

"Namra?"

She was snapped out of her trance by the sound of Wai's voice.

"You okay?" he asked, "You look pale."

The rest of her teammates gathered around to look at Namra with concern, but Namra knew that now was not the time.

"It's nothing," she explained, "Nothing at all."

Concern still on all of their faces, the five of them left with Doctor Albin and headed out of the facility and back to Enero's house.

But Namra knew that it wasn't nothing.

_He's here, _She worried to herself. _He's here._

* * *

Their tents had been set up in the clearing they had found not too far from their destination. It had become dark quickly, so Team Peacock and Professor Vert had gathered wood and made a fire, which now crackled and sparked with the group of five huddled around it for warmth.

"I still don't get it," Aurelia spoke up, "How come those Nevermores attacked us?"

It was a question that had plagued them for the entire day.

"It doesn't make sense," Professor Vert contemplated, "Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, but the only one who was being remotely negative was Porphyrios."

"And even then," Porphyrios joined in, "there's no way that energy would have attracted that many of them."

They all sat for a while, trying to think of something that would give them a better clue.

"Well," Professor Vert declared, "It's getting late, we should get some rest. Who wants first watch?"

"I'll do it," Porphyrios offered, and the rest of them went to bed.

* * *

It was later into the night when Basil stood watch. The campfire was low, but still burning brightly thanks to the fire dust they had used. He sat there watching the dark forest of Forever Fall when he heard a rustling coming from the tent. Basil turned to see Celestia come out, her hair a bit messy from sleep.

"Hey," Celestia whispered as she walked over to Basil.

"Hey," he replied as she sat next to him.

"Any issues so far?"

"Nope," Basil determined, "It's so weird that neither me nor Porphyrios heard anything tonight."

"Well, nothing we can worry about right now," She pointed out, resting her head on Basil's arm.

Basil looked down and smiled as he stroked her long pink hair. Her dog ears twitched at the touch as she smiled and looked up at the sky.

"Look at all the stars," She commented quietly.

Basil looked up and saw them. From Beacon and Vale, the stars seemed so insignificant and dim that he never considered them to be anything pretty, but out in the forest, away from all the buildings, the lights from the stars shone brighter than anything he could remember.

"They're beautiful," He decided, voicing his awe to Celestia.

"Yea," she whispered.

They sat there for a while just enjoying each other's company as they stared at the beauty of the stars.

"It's incredible," Celestia broke the silence, "Even now, despite all the danger we are in, the stars still give me comfort. Like there is someone watching over me."

"Yea," Basil agreed.

He held Celestia a bit tighter.

"Don't worry, we'll get through this," Basil determined.

Celestia smiled, "I know."

She gave Basil a quick kiss before snuggling closer to him, enjoying a few more moments of bliss.


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Notes: Hey guys! We're getting closer to the end of the 'Volume 2' arc, Enjoy!**

What It Takes

Chapter 24: Clash Before the Storm

"Say that again?"

Team Sunrise and Professor Caerul were in Enero's living room when Namra spoke up about what she felt at the dustworks. She trembled slightly, her face devoid of color, still trying to comprehend the situation.

"Behind the door on the fifth floor," Namra repeated to the group, "I felt the presence of...an old friend."

She had trouble saying the last part, as if it disgusted her.

"Your friend works at Albin Dustworks?" Sylvia questioned.

"No," Namra answered, still shaking where she stood, "but if he's there, then that means this city is in danger."

"Why's that?" Professor Caerul inquired, "What can one person do?"

"It's not what he can do," Namra replied, "It's what his employer can do. My friend works for a powerful and dangerous man, who controlled most of my home town. He also turned my friend into a monster."

Old memories resurfaced into Namra's consciousness, shoot outs, dark alleyways, and burning buildings.

"We need to get into Albin Dustworks," Namra concluded, trying to suppress those memories, "If my friend Nuri is here, then Cole is also here and probably pulling the strings."

"Cole?" Sylvia asked sharply, her eyes darkening.

"Yea, Cole Axenus," Namra responded, "That's who Nuri's employer is."

Silence followed this as Re and Sylvia looked at each other, anger suddenly evident on their faces.

"I know that name," Enero spoke suddenly, "Brilliant huntsman, that is, until the incident with Mr. Jade."

"Who?" Wai probed.

"Mr. Jade," Enero repeated, "Wanted criminal of the likes no one had seen before. Killed Cole's wife, Cole wanted revenge. When Mr. Jade was only imprisoned, Cole went rogue and fell off the grid. Next thing we know, his former partner was killed."

"Yea," Sylvia said through gritted teeth, "He killed her."

Enero nodded, "Your mother."

Sylvia stood shocked.

"Our mother," Re spoke up on Sylvia's behalf, "But how did _you_ know?"

Enero shrugged, "The resemblance is uncanny, figured you were related somehow."

"Seems like he's been busy despite being off the grid," Professor Caerul pointed out, "Well we should head back and report this."

"What?" Sylvia found her voice, "We can't, if we leave now they're just going to cover it all up."

"They won't have enough time," Professor Caerul stated, "We only asked about Project Indigo, as far as they know, we know nothing else."

"That's not true," Re declared, "We met Cole last semester, our dad told us about him. If Doctor Albin _is_ working for Cole, he'll know who we are."

"Wait, the man in the bowler hat was Cole?"

"Yes Wai," Sylvia nodded, "My dad told me he's planning something, he wanted to destroy those who didn't share his belief or something."

"Well if that's the case," Professor Caerul continued, "We definitely need to report this to the other hunters."

"There's not enough time," Sylvia protested angrily, "We need to go now if we are going to stop them."

"We don't have enough people here," Professor Caerul argued, "And I'm not putting you kids in that kind of danger."

"We can handle it," Namra chimed in, "We've fought them before, and I know Nuri's fighting style."

"Maybe," said Professor Caerul, "but that also means you know Nuri well, because he was your friend. And you two had your mother stripped from your lives due to Cole, meaning all three of you are too close to this."

"That just means we're gonna take this more seriously," Re pointed out.

"It also means your emotions are clouding your judgement."

"I agree with my team," Wai interjected, "We don't have time to gather more people, we need to deal with this now."

"Enero help me out over here," Professor Caerul pleaded.

Enero looked up, "Look I understand how you all feel," he spoke in a surprisingly clear voice, "but now is not the time to let emotions run wild."

"But-"

"And if you can't accept that," Enero continued dangerously, "then you shouldn't continue at Beacon Academy. A hunter needs to be clear headed when deciding to jump into the fire. It is only when you are in battle that tapping into your emotions can be an asset."

The room fell silent at Enero's speech as he left the room to get a drink from the kitchen.

"It's getting late," Professor Caerul acknowledged, "Let's get to bed."

* * *

The howls of Grimm woke Basil up. He dashed out of his tent, trident in hand.

"You heard it too."

Aurelia was already outside the tent with her battle-axe, having been on the most recent watch. Porphyrios and Celestia were also standing there ready with their weapons.

"Well looks like we know where the Grimm are," Professor Vert pointed out, also armed with her microphone.

The howls were heard again, and a few Beowolves appeared among the trees. They leapt at the group but were immediately cut down by Aurelia's axe. As she finished her blow, however, a Boarbatusk slammed into her side, sending her into the forest.

"Aurelia!" Celestia cried, but she was quickly overwhelmed as two Ursai came charging at her.

Basil moved to Celestia's side and helped her take them down easily, while Porphyrios and Professor Vert dealt with a second Boarbatusk. After they dealt with the Grimm, Aurelia came back from the forest with three more Beowolves trailing behind her. She ducked as Professor Vert blasted fire from her glove, destroying the creatures. Before the team could recover, however, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by more Grimm than they had ever seen in one place. There were Beowolves, Usrai, Death Stalkers, and they could even hear some Nevermores circling from above. Each Grimm had varying degrees of white bone plates and spikes on them, revealing which ones were tougher to kill.

"Well no one said defeating them would be easy," Basil chuckled.

Suddenly there was a clapping sound coming from the tree in front of Basil. The rest of the group turned to face the tree. Up in the branches stood three figures, each silhouetted amongst the trees.

"Always ready to fight, huh Basil?" The smallest of the silhouettes called out.

The figures dropped out of the tree. One was the giant bear Faunus they had met last semester, which they now knew as Roano. The second was the girl Olivia from last semester in her camo tank top and black shorts. The bear swung his sledgehammer onto his shoulders while the girl held her kamas at her side. The third figure was hooded and completely clad in black with two single bladed warglaives hanging from his belt. The figure removed his hood and the students' eyes widened as they saw who it was. The boy had straight black hair and gray eyes, and a necklace hung around his neck.

"Cinereus?" Basil asked, shocked by what he saw.

The boy gave a twisted smile.

"Good to see you brother."

* * *

Namra woke with a start.

_Another nightmare,_ Namra thought, a cold sweat covering her forehead, she could still see the fire vividly, as if it were right in front of her.

"Not sleeping well?"

Namra was startled and instinctively turned toward where the voice was coming from. She felt the unique energy of Enero and relaxed a bit.

"What time is it?" Namra asked in a whisper.

"Six-ish," Enero responded shrugging, as if it was no consequence.

"Do you always wake up this early?" Namra inquired.

Enero shook his head.

"Only when I want to see the sunrise," he replied, "and I wanted to see it today."

"Why today?"

"No reason, just felt like the right thing to do."

Namra sat upright in her sleeping bag.

"Was the sunrise pretty?"

Enero shrugged again, "It was alright. I miss the sunrises I would see out in the field."

"I'd imagine it would be better without the buildings everywhere."

"Mmmm," Enero nodded, "Shame you can't see it. There's really nothing quite like a sunrise."

Namra felt the sadness in his voice, as if he genuinely felt bad that someone could be robbed of such a sight. The sunrise must mean a lot to him.

"Actually-"

Enero suddenly tensed up and soon Namra knew why. She realized that there was someone right outside the wall she was facing.

"Get Down!" Enero yelled as part of the living room wall came crashing into the room itself.

Dust and debris was scattered everywhere as everyone tried to stand after being so rudely awakened. In the new doorway he just made was the bodyguard from the factory, staring coldly into the room. His eyes roamed around the room as he finally grabbed Professor Caerul by the throat and pinned him to the wall, trying to suffocate him. As quick as she could, Namra picked up the chain of her weapon and threw one of the swords at the intruder. The man grabbed the sword out of the air.

"Stay out of it," he commanded, and threw the sword back at Namra.

Namra was knocked back against the wall from the impact of her sword, still shaky from the sudden entrance. The other members of team Sunrise began to rise, still dazed as they watched this man choking the life out of Professor Caerul.

"Hey!"

The intruder turned and received a punch straight to his face from Enero. The man staggered back, dropping the professor. Gasping for air, Professor Caerul grabbed Enero's outstretched hand as Enero helped the professor to his feet.

"Bennet," Enero stated, "you met this man yesterday?"

Bennet nodded as he continued to catch his breath.

"Then you know what to do, I'll handle this guy."

Bennet nodded again and motioned for the students to grab their weapons and follow him.

Once they left, Enero turned and grabbed the oncoming fist of the intruder. Enero pushed him back to the wall and readied himself for a fight. The bronze haired man drew his tomahawk looking blade and readied himself as well.

"Alright," Enero goaded, "Let's see what you got."

The bodyguard charged at Enero, swinging his weapon over his head. Seeing the blade coming down, Enero dodged out of the way, letting the blade slice into the couch behind him. He then punched the bodyguard straight in the ribs, causing the man to stumble backwards, his weapon still buried in the couch. He then charged at Enero, barreling him into the opposite wall. He grabbed his weapon and started to head for the door. Before he could leave, Enero grabbed him and threw him into the table, breaking it. Enero then grabbed two of the legs from the table as the bodyguard swung at him again. Enero ducked under the blow and jabbed the man's ribs multiple times with his make-shift weapons.

Fed up, the man grabbed Enero and threw him against another wall. The man swung again and Enero blocked it with the table legs, stopping the weapon in its tracks. The man then swung with his free fist, striking Enero in the side. The legs of the table clattered to the floor as Enero sunk to one knee. The man's weapon once again came at Enero from an overhead strike, but this time Enero grabbed it with his left hand.

"Mistake," Enero stated plainly, as if just having a normal conversation.

He punched the man straight in the gut, causing him to hunch over, allowing Enero to throw the man back into the wall. Holding the blade of the man's weapon, Enero tossed it aside as the man got back up.

He then quickly raised both fists up in the air as the earth trembled beneath Enero's feet. Stone erupted from the ground from all around Enero, pinning him where he stood. Holding out his arm, the stone rose up around Enero, so that only his head was visible.

Enero chuckled as the bodyguard approached his stone prison.

"What's your name?" Enero asked, still chuckling.

"Bronze," the bronze man stated.

"Well Bronze," Enero replied smiling, "it seems you're full of surprises."

"Stay put," Bronze commanded as he picked up his weapon.

"Sorry, can't do that," Enero responded, "Gotta make sure you don't hurt those guys."

"You don't have a choice in the matter."

"I disagree," Enero smiled, "I have a few surprises myself."

The air began to grow cold as white wisps fell off around Enero's head. Suddenly the earth around Enero froze over and became ice. Shifting his weight, Enero broke free of the ice, shards of it hitting Bronze. His hands covered in an icy glow, Enero glared at Bronze.

"Round two then," Bronze stated as he pointed his blade at Enero.

* * *

Team Sunrise followed Professor Caerul out of the house and down the street.

"Where are we going Professor?" Sylvia asked.

"I may not like it, but we have to go back to Albin Dustworks and stop what they are doing," Professor Caerul responded.

"We're going after them?"

"Yes," Professor Caerul affirmed, "Albin's bodyguard showing up at our safe house confirms that we're onto them. You were right; we have to stop this now before they cover up everything."

"Sweet!" Re exclaimed, "Time for some action!"

"Right," Professor Caerul disapproved, "Just stay behind me."

They continued to run at a full sprint until they arrived at Albin Dustworks. The doors were locked, as expected, so Professor Caerul kicked them open and rushed inside, followed by the students. Sylvia noticed that the halls were completely abandoned as their footsteps echoed around the dustworks.

"They must have cleared out by now," Wai stated, looking around.

"Only one way to find out," Professor Caerul claimed, beckoning them to the elevator door.

They reached the fifth floor and made their way to the steel plated door from yesterday.

"Well Namra?" Inquired Sylvia.

"They're still here," Namra confirmed.

"Wai," Sylvia turned, "Can you get us in there?"

Wai smiled as he moved to the electronic lock on the side of the door. He released the blade from his gauntlet and used it to pry off the panel, revealing the wires and electronics. Within about a minute of Wai tinkering, the steel plated door opened.

"Let's go."

The room was large and open so that you could see everything in the room, from the railings on the next floor above them to the wiring machines in the back. There were only three work stations throughout the entire facility.

_Probably because the rest had been moved out of the building by now, _thought Sylvia.

The stations looked complicated, with several test tubes and dangerous looking concoctions. But the students didn't get to look much more than that, as all eyes were drawn to the four figures in the center of the room who had their backs to them. On the far left was Doctor Albin, next to whom stood the long redheaded girl from last semester, in her silk pink shirt and black skirt. On the far right stood a boy with short, spiky, black hair, a black t-shirt, and fire tattoos on his forearms. And in the middle of the group was-

"Cole!"

Sylvia called out before she could think about it. Cole and the other three people turned toward them.

"Doctor Albin, we will settle this later," Cole commanded brusquely.

The doctor, looking disgusted, left at his word.

"How nice of you to drop in," the tattooed boy smirked, "Unfortunately, visiting hours are over, so we'll have to ask you to leave."

"I demand to know what you are doing in this facility," Professor Caerul declared, pointing at Cole.

Cole stepped forward, causing all of the students to draw their weapons. The redhead drew her steel fans in response, but Cole waved his hand and the woman backed off.

"Dust," Cole spoke as if it held the answer to all life's mysteries. "It's a very powerful energy source, yet also highly volatile when used correctly. What I'm doing is harnessing that raw energy to make this world a better place."

Sylvia lowered her sword.

"How?" Sylvia asked, "This world has been at peace for so long, what needs to be changed?"

"The White Fang, criminals, murderers, increased Grimm activity…you call that peace?" the redhead inquired, a hint of steel in her voice, "We are raging war against ourselves."

"And you're gonna fix that?" Wai interjected, "By what? Using dust to wage even more war?"

"We will be using that dust to fight," Cole explained, "but it will be a fight to destroy corruption forever."

"You can't just leave that to the police and the hunters?" Re asked.

"A lot of the hunters and officials are corrupt as well," Cole continued, "We would have to eliminate them too."

"There may be officials and hunters who are crooked," Namra spoke up, "but there are also those who aren't! We make progress every day to fight evil and keep this world safe."

The tattooed boy cackled at Namra's comment.

"You'd have to be completely blind to believe that we've made any sort of progress," He chided.

He smirked at Namra, "Then again you are blind, so I can see why you'd think that."

Namra shook a little bit at his words, but then tightened her grip on her swords.

"I think you've all missed the point," Cole lectured, "If I wanted to target _just_ the corrupted officials, then I wouldn't need all this dust."

Cole smiled darkly, "No, I want to destroy all authority on Remnant."

"What?!" Sylvia exclaimed, incredulously.

"That would be anarchy!" Professor Caerul realized, "How would that be better than what we have now?"

"It wouldn't be," Cole stated plainly, "but in order to rebuild, we would have to tear down what's already there. Only then can we take control and truly rid this world of evil."

"What you're talking about is already evil!" Wai yelled, his eyes turning red, "You wouldn't just be killing those who are bad! You'd also be killing innocent people!"

"An acceptable loss," Cole indicated coldly, "We can only achieve a perfect society by eliminating every aspect of the old one."

"I've heard enough!"

Wai, completely engulfed in a red aura, lunged at Cole with his blades extended. The red haired girl blocked the attack with one of her steel blade fans, as Cole delivered a swift punch to Wai's gut.

Everyone acted at once. Sylvia fired her arrows at the three enemies, but they were quickly deflected by the red haired girl, who then shot blasts of fire dust at her. Re jumped in front of Sylvia and blocked the blasts with his scimitars, while Namra used her chained swords to grab a hold of the tattooed boy. The boy quickly dodged though as Cole pulled out his pistols and shot at their group. Professor Caerul then pulled out a textbook from his satchel and used it to block the bullets. Wai got up and grabbed the red haired girl's arm and threw her towards the back of the room. He then turned to Cole, eyes still red, and delivered a powerful punch towards him. Cole grabbed Wai's fist and then threw him at the rest of the students. They all tumbled out of the way of Wai's body, giving Cole and the other boy ample time to run to the back of the room.

"Keep them busy Coralia," Cole commanded as he passed by the red haired woman.

She gave a grimace, but proceeded to do as he said. The professor and his students began to chase after Cole, but were stopped as Coralia began to rain down elemental blasts from her fans, keeping them from getting closer. They quickly hid behind some of the leftover desks as she continued to fire upon them.

"We have to get passed her!" Sylvia called out, "We can't let Cole escape!"

"I'll handle it!" Wai declared, eyes still ablaze as he rushed out from cover.

"Wait!" Namra called, but Wai was already charging at her.

He dodged each blast and quickly reached her position, causing her to shift into a more defensive position.

"Go!" He cried, "I'll hold her off!"

Sylvia, Re and Namra quickly followed after Cole, heading up the stairs the criminals had just climbed up.

While checking to make sure they got there safely, Wai didn't see Coralia strike him in his side with her fan.

Sputtering, Wai fell to the ground while Coralia prepared to fire a dust blast from her fan. As she fired, Professor Caerul jumped in front of Wai, protecting him from the blast with his book.

"Next time," Professor Caerul stated, "look before you leap."

Wai's eyes became blue again as he nodded. He stood and extended his blades as they prepared to fight Coralia.

* * *

All of Team Peacock stood shocked in the clearing. Not only were they surrounded by numerous Grimm, but they were now confronted with two of the crimnals they had met last semester.

"Cinereus."

Basil spoke his brother's name with complete disbelief.

_It couldn't be, _Basil thought, _this has to be some sort of nightmare._

"Why are you here?" He inquired.

"Isn't it obvious?" Cinereus sneered, "I'm helping these guys round up Grimm."

"Round up?" Celestia asked, confused, "You act as though you can control them."

"They can," Porphyrios pointed out, "Grimm would normally have attacked by now, especially in large numbers like this."

"How is that possible?" questioned Aurelia, astonished.

"All the Grimm have collars on them," Professor Vert noticed, "Meaning…"

"That with a touch of a button," Cinereus finished, holding out a remote in his gloved hand, "I can make the Grimm do whatever I want."

"Why though?"

Basil couldn't look at his brother as he asked his question.

"They're the bad guys." He trembled with anger. "How could you turn on us like this?" Basil spat.

Cinereus smirked again.

"Us? The bad guys?" Cinereus scoffed, "If you knew what we knew you would be thanking us for what we are going to do."

"What are you planning?" demanded Professor Vert.

"Stop wasting time," Roano growled, his hammer now held in both hands, "Let's finish this."

"Yea," exclaimed the girl in the tank top, "Let's start fighting."

Cinereus sighed, "You two have no patience. But you're right."

He pointed the remote upward and pressed one of the buttons.

"Kill them."


End file.
